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Step 1
Think fat loss, not weight loss. What really matters is not how much weight you lose, but how much fat you lose. Conventional diets, especially low carbohydrate diets, focus on scale weight and pounds. There are many diet ads saying things like “lose 30 pounds in 30 days,” or “lose 8 to 15 pounds your first two weeks.” It sounds great, but you can’t lose 8 to 15 pounds of body fat in two weeks. If you do lose that much weight, you'll lose a few pounds of fat, several pounds of muscle, and a lot of water. Your goal has to be to lose fat while maintaining muscle.
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Step 2
Starvation diets do not work. Most conventional diets are based on a drastic reduction of calories. 95% of the people who go on conventional diets gain all of their weight back, and they sometimes end up fatter
than when they started. You can lose weight quickly by drastically reducing calories, but the weight loss will primarily be water weight, and water weight is easy to gain back. Drastically reducing calories also forces your body into "starvation mode." Once your body is in starvation mode your metabolism slows down and fat loss stops. You have to cut back on calories in order to lose fat, but you should never drastically reduce calories. -
Step 3
Slow and steady is the way to go. The healthiest and safest way to lose fat is by a slow and steady process. This will also most likely result in permanently keeping the fat off. Your goal should be to lose one to two pounds of fat per week. This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist, and personal trainer, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association
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Step 4
Your weight loss program must include aerobic exercise and strength training. If your weight loss program includes aerobic exercise and strength training, you'll be able to lose fat while maintaining, or even gaining, lean muscle mass.
