How to lose weight every day, safely and effectively.

Simple and effective - no fancy foods, workouts, or pills. This is tried and true - a natural and simple way to lose weight. Exercise the willpower and patience and you will drop the pounds.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A STRONG WILL
• A scale
• time to exercise and prepare healthy meals

1. Calculate your daily caloric intake.(Simply add up all of the calories you consume in a particular day. If you find it difficult to locate calories for certain foods, there are websites that list virtually every food and their calorie content. See suggested website below.)

2. Calculate the calories you expend that same day; your basal metabolic weight (see related article below) plus calories burned through exercise.

3. If the calories you expend exceed the calories you take in, you will LOSE WEIGHT. The amount will determine the rate of loss. Each pound is approximately 3,500 calories, so obviously weight loss is never an overnight occurence. At most, you will feel thinner in the morning because you have lost "water weight" over night, not actual fat.
   
   SO, for example; Day 1 you eat 5 small meals at approximately 300 calories each. Your caloric intake is 1,500. Day 1 you also went to the gym, and burned 350 calories. Add this 350 burned calories to your bmr (basic metabolic rate - see related article to do so). Subtract the intake from the total calories burned (exercise plus bmr) and that is how many calories you "lost" that day.
   
   Continuing with this example: say your BMR is 1,400. So, 1,400 plus 350 = 1,750 calories burned. 1,750 minus 1,500 (caloric intake for the day) = 250 calories. At this rate it would take approximately 14 days to honeslty burn 1 pound of fat. (14 days x 250 calories burned a day = 3,500 calories).

4. Finally, don't be a slave to your scale - but dont be afraid of it, either! Try to weigh yourself at the same time every day. Don't get discouraged at what you see, but instead use it as motivation. Using a digital scale is most helpful because every day you can actually see your weight diminishing, even if it is only by 0.1 of a pound. This is progress! NOTE: you WILL have setbacks - dont let them get you off of your regimine! You are human! Mostly this is just water weight, (not actual fat) and if you get back on your routine, that extra "pound" that you saw on the scale after a long weekend will take no time at all to disappear. Use the scale as your friend; as your motivating partner. Weigh yourself at the same time every day to get a true reading of your weight, and use this to create a realistic goal for a day, week, or month to come.

Tips & Warnings

• It is extremely important to keep things in perspective. Remember this is real life, not a silly 4-day weight loss plan. So, make sure you are getting all your nutrients.
• Everyone breaks from the plan once and a while. Drink a few beers - eat some nachos - just dont make it a daily occurence.
• Men and women burn calories differently - it is important that your exercise and eating regimine reflect your health, weight, and age. See your physician before making any major changes in diet or exercise. A rule of thumb is that women should never go below 1,200 calories while men should never go below 1,600. Depending on your workout routine, it can be easier for certain people to lose weight.
• NEVER starve yourself! Eat healthily, but eat small meals, often. Try to always eat over 1,200 calories daily, but exercise regularly.
• If you go under 1,200 calories (for men this number is usually a little higher), your body will literally shut down and start preserving all remaining stores because it will think you are in starvation mode. This is NOT GOOD for weight loss! You need to make your body think that you have enough food for the future, but that it needs to use up the excess energy in your system. Do this by eating at leat 1,200 calories of HEALTHY food daily. This will work.
• Finally - MUSCLE BURNS FAT. The more muscle you have, the quicker you burn fat. This is science. Therefore while it is VITAL that you have a cardio routine in your workout, it is also extremely helpful to add a strength workout at least 2 days a week to your regular exercise. No one is forcing you to run 8 miles a day or do bench press and power clean. Do what feels comfortable to you, but make sure you are getting the most out of your precious workout time. You WANT to leave the gym with a sweat! Attached article to come that includes effective cardio/strength training plan.

[lax12]

on 10/29/2008 Awesome! So true - and it works! Losing weight never comes easily, but this is a surefire way to do it if you have the motivation. Perfect!

[JesaLynn]

on 10/15/2008 Excellent tips, and all very true. It's nice to see the real deal with no fads or gimmicks. Great article, 5*s!