Losing weight has been distilled into a science and today there are many resources available to help you lose weight safely and permanently.
Resist crash diets that promise you fast weight loss, because you risk "rebounding" and gaining back the weight you lost --- and even gaining additional weight on top of that.
The basics still apply for successful weight loss: Eat a sensible, low-fat diet and get regular moderate exercise. Consult your doctor before beginning any weight-loss program.
Determine Your Daily Calories
You must do the math. To lose 1 pound a week, you must cut out 3,500 calories, or about 500 calories a day. Alternately, you can exercise to burn extra calories and shed weight. Most people opt to do both in an effort to reach their weight-loss goals more quickly.
Consult the packaging of the foods you buy for their calorie counts; many restaurants will also have this information available on site or online.
Avoid Processed Foods
Eat whole foods prepared from scratch to lose weight. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created dietary guidelines that are realistic. Its MyPyramid nutritional matrix recommends eating vegetables, fruits, whole grains including brown rice, millet, oats, quinoa, lean proteins, legumes, nuts, low-fat dairy foods, and non-saturated fats such as olive, sunflower, flax and hemp seed oils.
Eating fast foods high in refined sugar, white flour, or saturated fats will increase your risk for developing high blood pressure, cardiac disease or diabetes.
Reduce Saturated Fat Consumption
Know your fats. The USDA recommends healthy adults consume no more than 30 percent of daily calories from fat. Of that number, they recommend no more than 10 percent come from saturated fats. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature: butter, pork, beef and chicken fat. The overconsumption of saturated fat can increase the development of chronic diseases.
Favor Non-Saturated Fats: Olive, Flax, Hemp Seed
Change the way you currently prepare your food to reduce the amount of saturated and trans fats you are eating.
Bake, broil, steam and bake instead of frying food. There is no safe recommended amount of trans fat that results from frying any kind of food.
Use olive, sunflower or canola oil in cookie, muffin, pancake, cake, quick bread and dessert recipes. Brownies, chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies can all be made with olive oil with no taste difference.
Stay Physically Active
Make exercise a daily habit. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends healthy adults get at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise five days a week. If you lift weights twice a week, you can reduce your cardio to three times a week for 20 minutes at a vigorous pace.
Losing weight by restricting calories alone is much more difficult, because you will have to reduce your calories more severely to lose weight. By exercising, you reduce stress and build lean muscle tissue that burn more calories.
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