Losing weight requires you to create a caloric deficit---basically meaning that you eat fewer calories than you burn. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories. To lose one pound in a week, you need to create a 500-calorie deficit per day. Although diet companies and supplement manufacturers try to make you believe rapid, effortless weight loss is possible, the Centers for Disease Control note that the healthiest, most manageable rate of weight loss is about one or two pounds per week. In addition to trimming calories, including specific strategies may help ensure your weight loss attempts are successful.
Protein
To lose weight quickly, try increasing your intake of protein. When the researchers at the Stanford University Medical School compared four different diets with varying levels of protein, those participants consuming the highest protein and lowest amount of carbohydrates lost the most weight after 12 months. The results, published in a 2007 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association," concluded that a high-protein diet is a feasible weight loss plan. When following a high-protein diet, choose protein sources carefully. Look for those lower in saturated fat like skinless chicken breast, tuna and egg whites. Continue to eat some carbohydrates that come from healthy sources like vegetables and whole grains.
Discretionary Calories
Eliminate liquid calories that come from sugary sodas, juices and energy drinks. Moderate your alcohol intake as well. Cut back on or eliminate sweet treats and replace them with fresh fruit or low-fat yogurt. Over the course of a day, these discretionary foods---extra foods that offer little in terms of nutrition and hunger satisfaction---can contribute hundreds of unnecessary calories that prevent weight loss. For example, just one soda, cookie and margarita in a day adds between 700 and 750 calories. Cut these out every day for a week and lose 1.5 pounds.
Breakfast
Eating breakfast is a factor in successful weight loss, reported a study in the journal "Obesity Research" in February 2002. Researchers from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center reviewed a questionnaire filled out by almost 3,000 subjects who had maintained a weight loss of at least 30 pounds for a year or more. Seventy-eight percent reported eating breakfast every day. Eating breakfast literally breaks the overnight fast and helps get your metabolism churning. It also prevents you from becoming so hungry that you make poor choices or overconsume at your next opportunity. Choose healthful foods like whole grain cereal, egg white omelets, whole wheat toast with peanut butter, or fruit and low-fat yogurt, to make the most out of this meal.
Exercise
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends exercising at least 60 minutes, five days per week, to stimulate weight loss. This exercise should be of moderate intensity, but may be broken up into smaller bouts of ten to twenty minutes. In addition, ACSM encourages two full-body strength training workouts each week. Strength training does help you preserve lean muscle mass while you are restricting calories. A higher proportion of lean muscle makes you body appear toned and healthy and helps your metabolism burn calories faster.
References
- Journal of the American Medical Association: Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets for change in weight and related risk factors among overweight premenopausal women: the A TO Z Weight Loss Study: a randomized trial.
- Centers for Disease Control: Losing Weight
- Harvard School of Public Health: Getting to Your Healthy Weight
- Obesity Research: Long-term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National Weight Control Registry.
- ACSM: Physical Activity Guidelines
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