A positive attitude and strong commitment are the most important ingredients to successful, healthy weight loss, reports the Cleveland Clinic. A healthy weight-loss plan is one that you can stick to for life. A diet that provides quick weight loss through very low calorie intake is not sustainable and can create additional health problems.
Step 1
Consume fewer calories that you burn and burn more calories than you consume. The combination of reducing caloric intake and increasing exercise are the only healthy ways to lose weight, reports the Cleveland Clinic. A pound consists of 3,500 calories, which equates to the amount of calories you must eliminate from your diet, coupled with the calories you burn off with exercise.
Step 2
Lose 10 lbs. in 10 weeks by reducing your calorie intake by 500 calories a day. Lose 10 lbs. in five weeks by burning an additional 3,500 calories per week through exercise. Losing an average of 1 to 2 lbs. of weight a week is considered a healthy rate.
Step 3
Write down everything that you consume in a food journal. This will give you a record of exactly how much you're eating. You can review the day's intake and see where you may need to add more vegetables or limit the amount of bread you're eating. Ideally, record calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat in your daily journal.
Step 4
Write down your daily exercise and the corresponding number of calories burned during each activity. Use an online calorie activity calculator, such as the one at Calories Per Hour (see Resources).
Step 5
Break up your calories into five or six small meals a day to keep your metabolism running. If you skip meals, your metabolism reverts to its primal instincts and begins to store fat for survival. Eating more frequently also helps to prevent strong hunger pangs and binging that will sabotage a healthy diet.
Tips and Warnings
- The Cleveland Clinic reports that in a study of people who successfully lost weight and kept it off for more than five years, most of the participants ate an average of 1,400 calories per day.
- Be wary of taking weight loss pills, even if you are eating healthy food and exercising. As of March 2009, the Food and Drug Administration included 72 weight-loss products on its list of dangerous products. The ingredients may be tainted or medically compromising. Researchers at the FDA continually find that weight-loss pills contain undeclared ingredients that are not approved for human consumption.
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