How to lose weight- Weight Loss 101

You have read or will read countless “Expert” articles on weight loss. Quite frankly it is a relatively simple process to lose weight. I know it seems hard and often people fail at it but the principle behind it is very simple. First lets look at the math behind why you don’t lose weight, 2 calories minus 1 burned calorie equals 1 calorie left over to be stored as fat. By that math you can probably figure out how to lose weight, like I said it is simple. Burn more calories than you consume.

You May ask "how do I know how many calories I am eating", well it is pretty easy to find out. Sign up for an account at eDiet to help you monitor your calories.
Enter all the foods you eat for 1 week including beverages. Look at what you are averaging per day for carbs, protein, and fats as well as your daily calorie intake. You should be having 1 carb and 1 protein at each meal with some healthy fats as well as 2-3 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. You should be consuming a meal / snack every 2-3 hours so for some people they will be eating upwards of 6-8 meals per day.

Do not eat 2-3 hours before going to bed and for your last meal try and only have the protein portion with no carbs. Before incorporating any supplements that claim to burn fat work on following the above diet advice. Serving size is considered the size of your fist for each carb, protein, and vegetables. Fats can be taken through flax seed oil pills or salmon oils.

Exercise is 1 of the key components to losing weight, but if you wait to start exercising until you have been following you diet for 2 weeks to a month then you will get a boost in your weight loss. There are various forms of exercise like weight training, cardio, playing sports, and even just getting out for a walk each day. Do properly burn fat using cardio you need to know your target heart rate for losing weight. http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm is a free tool that can give you a general idea of where you should be to burn fat optimally.

Cardio should start of slow and progress, as you feel more comfortable and able to go for longer sessions. Start with 3 times per week at 20-30 minutes, eventually you want to be going for 45 minutes to 1 hour 5 days a week.

Weight training for fat loss can be a full body circuit performed 2-3 days per week with at least 1 day of rest between each session. Full body circuit means you work each muscle group once per session, try to do 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions. Ladies even you have to do weight training to burn the fat, it will not make you muscular and manly looking. It will help strengthen your core and burn fat while keeping your feminine qualities if you do it right.

Essentially to lose weight you have to remember you didn’t start off the size you are, it took you X amount of years to get were you are so losing it shouldn’t be an over night thing. You can safely lose 1-3 LBS per week and you may find that a couple of times even though you follow your diet and you are working out that the weight may go up instead of down. This is normal so is looking the first 10 pounds at a rapid rate. After that you should see the loss slow down to 1-3 lbs per week.

The closer you get to your goals for weight loss the slower and harder it is to lose the weight. Set your goals realistic, as an example this month I want to lose 8lbs and for the year I plan on being at X weight. For optimal results you should start with your diet, after a month of following it move onto adding weights 3 times per week. Again after a month of following both the diet and weight training you can add in your cardio remembering to take it slow at first.

At this point you have been watching what you have eaten for 3 months and had physical activity added to you lifestyle. You may have lost 20 – 35 pounds and had to pick up some new clothes. If you stumble on the way and fall of the diet remember that it is ok and not to use it as an excuse to stop. Make it a healthy lifestyle change rather than a diet and work out routine to lose weight and you will succeed.

Read our weight loss motivation, dedication and tips article to help you on your weight loss goal!

If you would like to lose weight using any weight loss drugs you should read our over the counter weight loss drugs and prescribed weight loss drugs article.
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