The best way to lose weight is do it slowly through exercise and diet. Many people who follow crash diets or extreme exercise programs often give them up quickly and gain the weight right back, and in some cases gain more weight. Losing weight steadily and consistently will help build habits that not only lose the weight, but also keep it off. Consult your doctor before beginning any weight-loss program.
Goals
The recommended rate at which men should lose weight is 1 to 2 pounds a week, according to MayoClinic.com. To lose 1 pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. If you current burn about the same number of calories you consume, you can lose 1 pound a week by trimming 500 calories a day from your intake, even before you bring exercise into the equation. You can burn off the second pound of fat through physical activity.
Diet
The basic rule of any weight-loss regimen is that you need to burn more calories than you consume, but you also need to eat healthy. Many diets that are excessively low in calories lack nutrients and can lead to you becoming malnourished,the Cleveland Clinic warns. A low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet that incorporates lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products will help avoid that. Although it's important to consume fewer calories than you do currently, men should not get less than 1,500 calories a day, and women should not go below 1,200 a day.
Exercise
The best exercises to burn calories and lose weight are cardiovascular exercises. Running, dance and indoor cycling increase the heart rate, make you sweat and burn hundreds of calories an hour. The American Council on Exercise recommends 45 minutes of moderately intense activity — which means your heart rate increases and you sweat — five to six times a week to lose weight, but recommends you work up to that gradually.
Considerations
Losing weight too fast is not recommended, but if you are excessively overweight, you may need to go on a special, physician-supervised diet that is very low in calories. But for most people, as the saying goes, "Slow and steady wins the race." Keeping your goals realistic will help avoid burnout that can be caused by overdoing diet and exercise. To help keep you focused, use online tools, such as the MyPlate calorie counter at LIVESTRONG.com. Once you become familiar with how many calories certain foods have and how many you expend in certain activities, you will be able to self-monitor to help lose the weight and keep it off through good habits.
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