If you find yourself struggling to maintain a healthy weight, you are not alone. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, 66 percent of American adults are overweight. Many who are engaged in this battle of the bulge have tried and then abandoned one weight loss program after another. Set fad diets aside for good. The best strategy to lose those extra pounds and then keep them off is to make adjustments gradually in your lifestyle that lead you step by step to a healthy weight and fitness level. There are no magic bullets in this strategy. Your basic tools are exercise, better food choice and smart portion control. Healthy living does not require a Spartan philosophy so much as a lifestyle of deliberate moderation.
Step 1
Decide how much weight you want to lose. Consult online height and weight charts, such as at the Health Check Systems website, to identify a target weight. Be realistic. Plan on losing 1 or 2 lbs. per week--the amount that is recommended by the National Institute of Health and by most doctors. To attain this weekly weight loss goal, you will need to increase the calories you expend through physical activity or decrease the calories you consume by 500 to 1,000 calories per day. A pound a week may not sound like much, but if you stick to the program you can lose 50 pounds in a year.
Step 2
Review your current exercise and activity patterns. Set realistic goals to increase your daily activity. Many websites, such as the Health Status website, have online calculators that will estimate how many calories you consume in different activities. Look through the list of activities and the associated calories burned to identify activities or exercises that appeal to you. The more activity you incorporate into your daily schedule, the fewer calories you will have to eliminate from your daily diet. Establish goals that you can sustain, given your schedule, motivation and weight loss goals.
Step 3
Review your eating habits and identify low-nutrition, high-calorie foods you can eliminate from your diet. Prime candidates for elimination include snack foods, sweet, fatty, fried and processed foods and high-calorie beverages, like whole milk, soda and beer. Minimize your use of butter, margarine, fat, cream sauces and heavy oils.
Step 4
Learn more about the food you eat. Use the web and study nutritional labels to learn about the nutritional and caloric value of foods. Minimize or eliminate white bread, white rice and pasta. Replace these starches with complex carbohydrates, like whole grain pasta, brown rice and whole grain bread. Make sure that at every meal one-third of your plate is covered with fresh fruit and vegetables.
Step 5
Reduce the size of your portions. Follow recommended serving sizes. Measure serving sizes so you can learn how big servings are supposed to be.
Step 6
Identify and replace routine meals that are high in calories. Most people have several recipes they rely on for many of their meals. Explore cookbooks, on-line recipe sites, newspapers and magazines to find new, low-calorie, high nutrition meals. As you find meals you enjoy, add them to your repertoire. Eliminate or minimize the recipes and meal plans that you ascertain are more caloric than nutritious.
Step 7
Monitor your progress. Weigh yourself the same time daily. Expect fluctuations on a day-to-day basis, but monitor your overall progress. If you start to gain weight, or if you go several weeks without losing weight, repeat Step 2 through Step 6 until you reach your desired weight.
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