How to Lose Weight

Here's the real scoop: how to lose weight is easy. Just because knowing how is easy doesn't mean doing it is easy though. Learn the basics of how to lose weight and stay motivated in this article.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Commitment
• Internet access
• Determination
• Notebook and pen

1. TRACK WHAT YOU EAT AND WHY. To lose weight you must burn more calories than you eat. Use a program such as Fitday (link below) to track your daily calories. How many calories do you need in a day? A rough rule of thumb is that you will lose on 10-12 times your body weight in pounds. So if you weigh 150lbs, a good place to start is 1500 - 1800 calories per day.

2. MONITOR. In your notebook, write down the number of calories you ate that day, how you felt that day, and if you caught yourself eating when you weren't hungry. Also track your weekly weight. If you are losing, stay at the same amount of calories until you stop losing. If you aren't losing, decrease calories by 10 percent.

3. OPTIONAL: EXERCISE. You don't have to exercise to lose weight. Again, to lose weight, you have have less calories going in than going out (you can think of it as attempting to "spend your savings"). While weight loss is mainly about calories going in, exercise is a way to create more calories going out. With more calories going out, you can either eat a bit more or loss a bit more. Don't overestimate calories going out... again, use fitday.com to estimate the number you spend exercising.

4. BE COMMITTED. This is the hardest part. What are you going to do at that dinner party, at the movies, when you go out to eat with your friends? There are ways to deal with these situations. Keep emergency food with you and eat it when you feel yourself getting too hungry (be sure to log this food in fitday). Eat before a social event and just drink water or tea at the event. Keep a picture of the body you hope to achieve with you and look at it when you are losing motivation.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep that commitment! One mistake won't ruin your success, but daily mistakes will!
• In addition to keeping a picture with you, write you goals down and post them. Tell your friends and ask for their support.
• Find communities - online or in person with similar goals to yours. Sharing success and failures will help you stay motivated and identify potential pitfalls. One supportive community is linked below - Lean Bodies Fitness.
• Realize that this is a lifestyle change. One cannot lose weight and then return to old eating habits without regaining the weight. Occasional treats can be added in, but the majority of the time you must be within your calorie limits.
• Do not cut your calories extremely low - weight loss of 1-2 lbs per week is all that is recommended. If you cut your calories low your metabolism is likely to slow down as your body responds to less food, making it harder to lose weight and easier to gain weight. It is also much harder to keep weight off after extreme dieting.

Resources

• Fitday.com
• Lean Bodies Fitness Forum

[FrazzledNanny]

on 4/22/2009 Great tips on losing weight. Well written and helpful. 5*

[leanan]

on 12/15/2008 I need to track, it really does make a difference. Thanks!

[soanyway]

on 11/18/2008 Very good article!~thanks~ Ok, right after the holidays~