If you're young and in your 20s, you have the advantage of having a resilient body likely at its peak. This is both a gift and incentive in pursuing weight loss. Not only is now the best time to lose weight and get in shape, but it's also the prime of your life. Why not look and feel your best? With some dietary restructuring and healthy exercise, you can create habits that lose weight and keep you feeling great for years to come.
Step 1
Cut out fast food, junk food, fried food, snack food and sugary desserts from your diet. These food types are loaded with high calorie concentrations, fat and sugar. You can eat some of these in minimal amounts, but the greater the extent to which you eliminate them from your diet, the less you'll have to deal with their side effects, and the better you will feel.
Step 2
Create a healthy diet for yourself. Build your diet from the ground up, beginning with a base of fresh vegetables and fruits. Use vegetables such as cucumbers or carrots to replace old snack standbys such as chips. Replace junk food or candy with healthier fresh fruits such as apples, berries, melons or citrus. For carbohydrates, go with whole grains such as natural wild rice or whole grain wheat bread. Also consider unsalted nuts as a healthy snack item, rich in healthy fats and protein. For meat, stick to lean poultry and fish rather than fatty dark red meats. You also can incorporate small amounts of dairy as a good source of protein.
Step 3
Avoid all soda and artificially flavored drinks where possible. Water is still the healthiest and most beneficial liquid for your body, and it is essential to efficient weight loss. If you need more flavor in your drinks, there is a whole world of naturally flavored tea out there that can add a good kick of flavor in a cup. You also have natural fruit juice as a healthy option; just drink it in moderate portions, as even natural juice can still be high in sugar. Finally, skim milk is a good choice as a source of nutrition and thirst quencher.
Step 4
Reduce your portion size to healthier levels. If you're overweight, odds are one of the causes is overeating. By removing even a small amount of food from your plate instead of eating it, you're reducing the amount of calories that go into your body, which keeps you from having to burn them later. The goal isn't to starve yourself but to make the mountain of calories that need burning less steep for you. Do this with each meal you eat daily, and you'll be eliminating hundreds of calories from your diet each week, which will translate into weight loss.
Step 5
Start an exercise routine that you enjoy and incorporate cardiovascular exercise. Cardio constitutes any exercise that raises your heart rate and breathing rate significantly for a prolonged period of time. Examples of this type of workout include biking, jogging, swimming, rowing, climbing stairs or running. If you aren't attracted to any of these options, begin with brisk walking and move onto a new exercise after acclimating. Shoot for sustained exercise for at least 20 minutes at a time four or more times a week to see results.
Tips and Warnings
- Cardiovascular exercise is one of the easiest ways to exercise to burn calories and lose weight when combined with a healthy diet. Weight loss is essentially the act of burning more calories through exercise than you consume through eating. As you eat, the caloric energy contained in food is used to fuel your muscles. What calories aren't used in a timely manner are stored as fat and saved for a later time. This is the fat that accumulates on your body. By eating less food and exercising more, you shift the ratio from storing fat to drawing from that fat to replace the energy needed to fuel your muscles and vital organs.
- Consult your doctor before pursuing any new diet or fitness regimen to ensure you are in good health and minimize health risks.
References
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity and Public Health Guidelines
- Hospital For Special Surgery: Exercise Tips for Fat Loss
- Mayo Clinic.com: Counting Calories -- Get Back to Weight-Loss Basics
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention: What Is Healthy Weight Loss?
- MayoClinic.com: Water — How Much Should you Drink Every Day? Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/528729-how-to-get-a-runners-body-fat-percentage/#ixzz1X8IcjeoC
- American Heart Association: Diet and Lifestyle Recomendations; May 2010
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