Trying to Lose Weight

If someone is overweight, the odds are good that he or she consumes too many calories for his or her age, height, activity level and other factors. If you would like to lose weight, the best way to do that is by reducing the number of calories you consume. A pound of fat represents about 3500 stored calories. Reducing your intake to a level slightly below your recommended number of calories is directly proportional to the amount of weight you will lose.

While cutting back on the number of calories you consume is the key to losing weight, you must do that intelligently. If you reduce it too drastically, or don't get the nutrients you need, you will sabotage yourself by forcing your body to take measures to protect itself.

Determine Your Target Caloric Intake

The number of calories one needs to maintain a steady weight is even to the ones you use. Most people burn about 2000 calories a day. The actual number of calories one burns depends on a number of things, such as age, gender, height, weight, and activity level. You should work out how many calories you need, then, decide how much weight you would like to lose.

Remember that after reaching 3500 calories less than you require, you will lose a pound. You should aim to lose those pounds slowly—no more than a few pounds a week. If you cut back on the calories too much, your body will put itself into a survival mode where it reduces its caloric needs, making it harder to lose weight.

Eat a Variety of Foods

While it is important to not cut out too many calories when trying to lose weight, you must also make sure that you are getting enough of the many different vitamins and minerals. The best way to do this is by eating a variety of foods. The nutrients one gets from foodstuffs is often more bioavailable and released into the body in a more healthy, even manner than with supplements. This makes food a better, safer way to get nutrients.

Getting proper nutrition is important when trying to lose weight since it keeps one's body in good working order. Having a good metabolism is essential to burning calories, and that bodily function requires certain vitamins and minerals to operate. Eating a variety of foods helps ensure that you meet all of your nutritional requirements. This makes you healthier and weight loss easier.

Drink Plenty of Water

Like eating a variety of foods, drinking enough water keeps one's body operating at its best possible efficiency. It also slows down one's eating and contributes to a sense of fullness so one is less likely to overeat. Drinking plenty of water is a simple way to help achieve your weight loss goals. Since it is such an easy thing to do, everyone trying to lose weight should take advantage of it.

Exercise to Burn Calories

Exercise is an important way to help lose weight. It increases the number of calories one's body burns. Just by exercising, one could lose weight since it may create a calorie deficit. If not, it would, at the very least, cut down on the number of calories one would need to reduce to lose weight. Getting a calorie deficit through exercise rather than by cutting back on food makes it more likely that you would continue to get all your essential nutrients.

In Summary

The most effective way to lose weight is to create a deficit in the number of calories one takes in compared to the calories burned. A pound of body fat represents about 3,500 stored calories. For every 3,500 calorie deficit one cuts from his or her diet, he or she will lose a pound.

However, while cutting calories is important, one must make sure it isn't done too drastically. Reducing your caloric intake too much, or not meeting your nutrient needs can make one's body protect itself by shutting down a little and cutting back on how many calories it uses. This makes loosing weight much more difficult.

So, while the key to losing weight involves cutting back on calories, it must be done with some thought and planning. Otherwise, those efforts can become counter-productive.

One must determine his or her caloric needs and execute a dietary plan that undercuts that number slightly. Slow, steady weight loss is the goal, rather than trying to do too much all at once. Finally, it is highly recommended that you add some form of physical activity to your daily lifestyle where you are able to regularly perform the activity.