Losing Weight the Right Way

Losing Weight the Right Way

Through the years, thousands of different diet systems have been proposed. Few of these systems, however, have proven to provide much benefit. Research consistently shows that the best way to lose weight is to go about it the traditional way by eating well and exercising. Fortunately, eating well does not mean you must starve, and exercise does not have to be difficult. Here are a few tips to help you lose weight the right way:

Learn how to estimate calories

Losing excess weight is a valiant goal, but your ultimate goal should be to keep the weight off permanently. Learning how many calories you need in addition to learning about the different types of foods and the calories they contain can go a long way. Most are surprised to learn how many calories are in a variety of foods; some foods contain far more calories than one would imagine while other food is not as calorie-rich as it seems. Some food is simply not filling enough to justify its calorie load. In should be noted, however, that supplements such as Sensa can help a food seem more filling.

Find what diet works for you

The problem with most diets is that they do not provide the balanced, varied meals that many of us crave. While a particular diet may taste alright for a week or even a month, the monotony eventually causes most of us to give up and return to our old habits. One of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off is to learn how to eat the some filling meals we enjoy while keeping our caloric intake below a certain level.

Eating portion control can go a long way toward keeping your calories down. Fortunately, modern technology can help make meals seem more filling than they actually are; using Sensa, for example, allows you to eating smaller portions and enjoy them as much as you would enjoy a much larger portion.

Start exercising

It is possible to lose weight without exercising, but exercise make the process significantly easier. The good news about exercise is that is does not need to be intense to have a beneficial effect. Any exercise that gets the heart pumping faster than normal is enough to burn calories and encourage our bodies to ramp up its base metabolic rate. Another option is light weight training.

Research has shown that lifting light weights stimulates the body the same was that cardiovascular exercise does. Weight training also increases muscle mass, and muscles cause the body to burn calories even while at rest.

Exercise regularly

Strenuous exercise does burn more calories than light exercise, but research is showing that regular, light exercise is more helpful than sporadic, intense exercise. Getting out and walking three nights per week is enough to increase our base metabolic rate. Further, exercise has an effect on mental health, and studies have linked positive thinking and the absence of stress to a greater ability to shed weight and keep it off.

Losing weight is said to be hard. This sentiment is probably accurate if you are using fad diets and other gimmicky products. Focusing on the two traditional steps to lose weight, however, can lead to gradual, durable weight loss.

This guest post is compliments of Becky Wilcox.