Losing Weight, Staying Fit, and Looking Great!

Intro to Weight Loss

For years, losing weight has always been perceived as a mysterious task that seemed often impossible. Well, it shouldn't be, because losing weight is actually quite simple and straightforward. The chunk of information essential to losing weight is this: if your body uses up more calories than it takes in, you will lose weight. Here's a helpful hint. One pound of fat equals approximately 3500 calories. Any way you add it up, if you eat 3500 calories worth of food less per week and you normally would, you will lose one pound of fat per week.

Aside from the basics, there are a few general rules of thumb one should follow to be successful at losing weight. First off, talk to your doctor before you make any changes. Yes, I know you hear that all the time and decide not to because you're perfectly healthy or you don't have the time, but DO talk to you doctor. It could really help you out in the long run, and even if he doesn't have anything too drastic to tell you, talking your weight loss plans through with a listening ear can only help a few pounds more.

My second piece of well-backed advice is to make gradual changes. It's difficult when you have decided you want to lose weight and you want to start working quickly at it, but following that path is a sure way to destruction of your weight loss goals. If you make simple, easy-to-follow changes you will most likely stick to those changes. By working gradually, your new healthy habits will become second nature to you and not something to you have to fight and suffer through everyday. It is especially important to make gradual changes if you have any health problems, are in your older years, have a history of health problems in your family, or are obese.

The first step to losing weight is to make up your mind and decide why and how you are going to lose weight. The second vital step, as I mentioned, is to talk to your doctor. Most likely he or she will have information you didn't already know, information that will help you drastically in achieving your goals.

The third rule of thumb to losing weight is BE REASONABLE. I really can't stress enough how important this frame of mind is to achieving your weight loss goals. Do not expect yourself to wake up at 5:30 every morning if you normally wake up at 9:00am, run 5 miles and eat celery and toothpicks for a week. You may manage to do this for a single day but realistically, it will only make your weight problems worse. Going completely off your schedule will make you tired and unhappy, the exercise will be far too strenuous and inconvenient to do every day, and starving yourself of calories and nutrition will only slow you metabolism so that when you do begin to eat again (most likely in a binge), you metabolism will be so low as to cause you to gain more weight and then some. Be reasonable, be gradual, be smart. Focus on one or two small healthy tips per week and no more. By the end of the month, you will be well on your way to a healthier, fitter you. Realize that weight loss does not come instantly or, well, very quickly. The most one can reasonably lose per week is around 2 pounds, and even that takes work for a standard sized adult or teen who is a bit overweight. It's true, however, that obese and nearly obese people lose weight more easily because of their weight. (Assuming that their weight problems are not associated with a disease or disorder- talk to your doctor!)

A very good way to see where you stand is to keep a food diary. I know it is time consuming, but try it for one day to see approximately how many calories you intake per day versus how many calories you should intake per day. Count every little bit, don't leave anything out of subconsciously minimize your portion sizes. Many people fool themselves into thinking they only consume a certain amount per day when really they eat several hundred calories per day more than that. Be honest with yourself and when you know how much you truly eat you will know how much you reasonably need to cut back to reach your daily, weekly, and long term weight loss goals.

At this point, you need to make a detailed plan. Yes, please write it down for you own benefit. Studies show that people who write up a detailed, reasonable far more often succeed than those who don't, and far more often lose more weight total than those who don't. Your plan should include: Your nutrition goals (what you will cut out/eat sparingly of, what you will eat more of, the way in which you eat), your exercise goals (how many times per week you will exercise, what kind of exercise you will do), tips to motivate you when you just don't feel like it anymore, and a backup plan if all else fails and you really mess up.

It may be difficult to write a detailed plan and decide what you're going to do when not everything goes perfectly, but doing so will increase you chances of losing weight significantly. Once you complete the planning stage, you are ready to begin becoming more healthy and less heavy.