How to lose weight the healthy way

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By aedwards817
eHow Community Member

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(8 Ratings)

With the amount of adults in America who are overweight reaching an all-time high, more of us than ever need or want to lose weight. The only way to accomplish this goal is by consuming less calories than your body needs. You need only to count calories, not carbs, or fat, or whatever the latest diet trend is suggesting that you should keep track of. The calories, and not the carbs or fat in a specific food determine how much weight that you will gain or lose. Below you will find information on how to calculate the amount of calories your body needs and other very useful dieting tips.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Pencil and Paper
Scale
Willpower

Step 1

Make a mental commitment to losing weight. Whether you have a large or small amount of weight to lose, this is the most important step when it comes to your weight loss journey. Many times those who wish to lose weight question their own reasons for doing so, and many make excuses as to why they will not start their diet today. It is important for your own success that you stop questioning yourself and leave the excuses behind.
Step 2

Weigh yourself. Having a defined goal can make it easier to stick to your weight loss plan. Weighing yourself daily will help you to stay focused on your goal, and allow you to track any progress that you have made. Those who keep off the weight they have lost , are often those who weigh themselves daily.
Step 3

Calculate how much you can eat in order to maintain your current weight. In order to lose weight, it is necessary to take in less calories than your body needs in order to maintain your current weight. In order to calculate the number of calories your body needs to maintain your current weight, multiply your weight in pounds by 13, this will tell you the amount of calories you will need in order to maintain your current weight. In order to lose weight, you will need to consume less calories than this amount. It is important that you know that one pound equals 3500 calories, in other words, in order to lose one pound you will need to create a deficiency of this amount. In order to lose one pound a week you would need to eat 500 calories less, in order to lose 2 pounds a week you would need to eat 1,000 calories less a day and so forth. When counting calories there are no bad foods, you simply must stick to your allotted calorie amount. You will want to begin recording the food that you eat the calories that each food contains in order to be sure that you consume an amount of calories that will allow you to lose weight.
Step 4

After you have made the commitment to lose weight, and have determined the amount of calories that you may consume, it is time to decide how you will go about doing so. It is important to only make changes that you will be able to stick to in the long run such as eating more vegetables ,switching from regular soda to diet, or replacing the sugar in your coffee with artificial sweetener. If you consume regular soda and decide to switch to diet soda or water you will be amazed by the amount of calories that you will save yourself from consuming. One can of Coca-cola classic contains 144 calories, if you consume one can of soda every day, that calculates to 15 pounds in a years time. It is imperative to your success that you find small changes such as this that you can stick to for the long haul.
Step 5

Pay close attention to portion size. It is a good idea to have a diet scale and set of measuring cups on hand for the purpose of measuring the food that you consume in order to be sure that you are eating only a single serving. After you have practiced doing this you may be able to look at a food item and be able to determine what is a single serving, but until that time comes, it is important that you measure each serving that you consume. Consider foods packaged in individual portion sizes. One of the main causes of weight gain is simply eating portions that are to large. Even those with the best of intentions can misjudge what is a single serving size, purchasing foods that is prepackaged in single servings can help you to avoid this problem.
Step 6

Continue to adjust your diet, as needed so that you may achieve your goal weight. Read everything you get your hands on in order to stay motivated, and don‘t forget to drink lots of water. By following these simple steps you should be well on your way to your weight loss goal.

Comments

jasminemars said

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on 1/30/2009 I've heard that it's bad to weigh yourself often, and I've heard it's good to weigh yourself every day. There's no set rule for everyone. You know what's effective for you - do it.
Great article, I enjoyed it, thanks!

amylaine said

on 11/16/2008 Well written, thank you for sharing. 5 stars.

CBeatrix said

on 10/7/2008 To add more: artificial sweeteners are as harmful as refined sugar, if not more! The body is not able to deal with them, they are very toxic, and cause lots of trouble for your liver. Diet soda is almost worse than regular one because of the aspartame which has been linked to cancer, epilepsy, birth defects, diabetes, just to mention a few. Soda should be forgotten for good if you'd like to lose weight and live healthy. Have you ever read the label?! Soda shouldn't even be called food (drink) it's so far from what resembles food for our bodies.

on 10/7/2008 There are lots of good points in this article. However, keep checking your weight with the scale usually brings stress into the bpicture that will backfire. Your body will find its natural weight by you doing everything the healthy way. If you are trying to lose more than that, it will not equal with health. You can't really address just one issue, like losing weight. Everything is connected. At the end, its' not about willpower, it's about understanding and accepting how your body works.