Despite the claims of fad diets and supplement marketers, the best way to lose weight is through a reduced-calorie diet combined with regular exercise. Nutritionists at the Harvard School of Public Health, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Heart Association all agree that following a portion-controlled, balanced diet that includes lean proteins, healthy carbohydrates and monounsaturated fats will promote a healthy rate of weight loss. Turning off the television and moving your body more will also help you burn calories, accelerating the rate at which you are able to reduce pounds. Instead of embarking on a specific diet, which implies you will eventually go off of it, try incorporating steps that help you manage your weight for life.
Step 1
Keep a food diary. For the first few days, write down what you eat to better comprehend what, when and where you are eating. Identify places where you could easily cut calories first---usually discretionary calories like soda, the extra helping at dinner or doughnuts in the break room at work. In a study published in the "American Journal of Preventive Medicine" in August 2008, researchers at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research found that people who write down their food intake lose twice as much weight as people who do not.
Step 2
Control your portions. Eyeball the portion size of foods you eat, especially of more calorie-dense foods like fats, grains and proteins. Educate yourself on proper portion sizes. Strive to eat just 1/2 cup of grains, 3 or 4 oz. of protein, and 1 tsp. of olive oil or 1/2 oz. of nuts at each meal. If you are hungry, have extra servings of green vegetables or snack on fruits.
Step 3
Measure your food. Begin weighing and measuring food with a kitchen scale and measuring cups and spoons. This will give you an idea of how each portion should look.
Step 4
Make simple changes. Avoid red meat, white bread and sugary drinks. Grill skinless chicken breasts instead of burgers. Grab whole-grain bread instead of white bread to help increase your fiber and nutrition intake. Drink water instead of juice, lemonade, energy drinks and colas. These simple changes can save you hundreds of calories a day, and reducing calories can help you drop pounds.
Step 5
Start moving. Find ways to move so you burn more calories every day. Meet friends for a walk instead of at a coffee shop. Take up a team sport instead of watching football on television. Play with your kids or grandchildren at the playground instead of sitting on the bench and watching them. Take the stairs, park farther away in parking lots or walk through the mall. Anything that increases movement will contribute to a greater expenditure of energy. Join a gym, if you will use it, but ultimately, find a form of exercise that you will do regularly, not just the form that you think you should do.
Tips and Warnings
- Adopting these techniques should result in gradual weight loss---the type that the CDC suggests will be most successful in the long run. Losing just 1 or 2 pounds per week is sustainable.
Things You'll Need
- Kitchen scale
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
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