With 72 million American adults estimated to be obese in the United States, according to statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the diet and weight-loss market has been flooded with books and products claiming to help you lose weight fast and effectively. Unfortunately, many of these plans consist of "fad" or "extreme" diets that may help you lose weight quickly, but may put your health at risk, or may not be so effective in the long run.
Calorie Deficit
In order to lose weight the real way you need to create a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit occurs when you burn more calories through exercise and natural body function than you consume through your diet. However, it's important that you create a calorie deficit in a healthy way by avoiding harmful behaviors such as fad diets that remove entire food groups, extreme diets that limit your calories to less than 1,000 a day and workout routines that are too intense for your current fitness level.
Diet
Your diet should be based on a daily calorie goal. This goal will vary depending on factors such as your current weight, age, gender, activity level and total weight-loss goal. Figuring this calorie number on your own can be difficult, but luckily there are tools such as Livestrong.com's MyPlate, which allows you to input your personal information and receive an individualized calorie goal estimate. Once you have your calorie goal, it's important to choose a wide variety of healthy foods, with an emphasis on fiber-rich fruits and vegetables along with smaller portions of lean proteins, low-fat dairy products, whole grains and healthy fats like those contained in nuts and fish.
Aerobic Exercise
The second part of creating your calorie deficit is burning calories through exercise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests adding at least 150 minutes of moderately intense aerobic exercise to your schedule each week. Moderately intense activities include exercises like brisk walking, biking or swimming. For better weight loss and general health results, the CDC recommends increasing your intensity level of the exercise, or increasing your total workout time each week to 300 minutes, or about an hour a day five days a week.
Strength Training
Strength training provides two benefits toward your weight-loss goal. First, it burns calories as your muscles expend energy. Second, the larger your muscles grow, the more effective your body becomes at burning calories, suggests MayoClinic.com. The CDC recommends including strength training in your workout at least two days a week focusing on all the major muscle groups such as the back, abdominals, legs, arms, hips, shoulders and chest.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?
- American Heart Association: Physical Activity
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Obesity -- Halting the Epidemic by Making Health Easier: At A Glance 2010
- MayoClinic.com: Strength Training: Get Stronger, Leaner Healthier.
- MayoClinic.com: Aerobic Exercise: Top 10 Reasons to Get Physical.
- American Academy of Family Physicians: Nutrition for Weight Loss: What You Need to Know About Fad Diets
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