What Is The Best Way To Lose Weight?

We have all been in a supermarket and seen the health and fitness magazines that promise the ability to drop a dozen pounds or gain six-pack abs in the course of only a few weeks.

  While there are extremely high-intensity workouts that could produce this result (for example, doing approximately one thousand sit ups per day, as professional models do) there are much easier and less stressful means of losing stubborn body fat.  The best way to lose weight is a simple approach to your eating and exercise habits.  It is important not to concern yourself about the end result or worry that you see no immediate improvements, but rather to hang on to an established plan and not allow yourself to be frustrated.  

All weight loss plans have to begin with a simple decision about whether you would rather create substitutions for your current lifestyle or alter it with new routines.  Unfortunately, there is no way to lose weight by playing video games and eating pretzels, but a few tips are what is necessary to lead the charge forward.  For example, your dietary choices should be analyzed in order to see what can provide the most promising results.  Look at the last few grocery bills you have collected and determine how much of the money you spent on produce compared to processed foods.  As nearly any type of fruit or vegetable has low calories and high vitamin content, they should make up the bulk of your diet: processed junk food, by contrast, offers little to no health benefits and should be eliminated.  This means making touch decisions about your favorites -- you cannot lose weight and eat cookie dough ice cream at the same time -- but there are plenty substitutes that make it easy.  Purchase baby carrots instead of chips, apples and peanut butter instead of desserts, and milk instead of soda pop.

In general, animal products are a high source of fat and a low source of nutrients (with the exception of protein).  People should not be eating much more than three or four ounces of meat per day, about the size of a deck of playing cards, in order to get enough protein.  Likewise, cheese is extremely fattening and eggs have high quantities of cholesterol.  The best way to lose weight by modifying the diet is to eat more vegetables and whole grains in substitution of junk food and red meat.

The choice you face for exercise is a difficult one.  Most people hate exercising -- no way around it!  The key is not to exert yourself too much and not to expect too much.  If you have not gotten a workout since high school gym class, do not try to run a mile on the first day.  Instead, warm yourself up by parking as far away from the office as you can for a longer walk and taking the stairs rather than the elevator.  Spend the 30 minutes you would usually budget for a television show by taking a walk around the block.

After a few weeks of preparing your body, the best way to lose weight is to up the ante.  Cardiovascular exercise is the key to burning calories: nothing will do it faster than getting your heart rate up for an extended period of time.  Transition from walking to light jogging, and after a regular routine try sprinting in short intervals, or go for a bike ride in a hilly area.  You can (and should) get cardio exercise every day.  Push yourself to walk, run, or bike half a mile farther from home each week.

If you are committed to an exercise plan, you can increase the rate at which your body builds fat by starting a weight lifting routine.  The muscle cells that grow when you stretch them with heavy dumbbells or barbells draw their energy directly from fat.  A modest diet in tandem with frequent cardiovascular exercise and occasional weight lifting is by far the best way to lose weight, as it draws on the fat reserves of your body and rapidly drains the excess weight.  What's more, it will give you those sexy abs that the supermarket magazine advertises -- provided you have the fortitude to commit yourself to the challenge.