The two keys to losing weight and looking good are diet and exercise. Everyone knows this, but most of us will try the diet route before diving into any kind of exercise but if you really want to lose weight, you have to do both.

Most of us don’t have time to exercise and often, we don’t have healthy eating habits. But, do you have ten or twenty minutes a day to contribute something that will help you look good and feel great?

Diet to Lose Weight

Whether you’re going for weight loss (or gain), you need to figure out how many calories you need to eat. No two people are alike, and we all require different amounts of food. Knowing how much of each you need is the most important step in ultimately determining your portion size (from webmd) per meal.

Generally, to lose weight, you just need to reduce the amount of sugar and saturated fat you eat. Sometimes, these two can account for almost half the calories you take in.

Healthy eating requires knowledge about what you eat now and a plan to improve what you eat in the future. There’s a ton of information on the CDC website and lots free information more on the internet. Check out Understanding “A Healthy Relationship To Food” for some great insights.

But that’s only part of the process. Most Americans eat out a lot. It’s been estimated that about 60% of our food consumption takes place outside the home. It’s not always easy to control portion sizes when the food is delivered to your table or home.

When we pay for a meal in a restaurant or have it delivered, we feel obligated to eat all of it. Not good, we have to be able to stop eating when we’ve had enough. Learning what a portion size is and having the will to limit our food intake is essential to losing weight.

Eating To Lose Weight

Eating to lose weight requires an eating plan that includes a variety of nutritious food, reasonable size portions and consumption often enough to avoid feeling hungry while eating less. You must have an eating plan and you need to burn those additional calories, otherwise they will just turn to fat and you’ll lose nothing.

Notice that I called it an “eating plan” and not a diet plan. You can eat almost anything and still lose weight. A healthy eating plan gives your body the nutrients it needs every day while staying within your daily calorie goal for weight loss. It may lower your risk for heart disease and other health conditions.

Most of our calories come from foods that are high in fat and sugar. Our lunches have hamburgers, sandwiches and tacos topping the list, followed closely by sugar loaded drinks and sweet snacks. Everyone eats a lot of pasta and bread products.

Our eating habits need help. Changing the way you eat to lose weight can be easy. First, learn about your worst food offenders and find out how to replace them with healthier choices. Then try some portion-control tricks to eat less.

A healthy eating plan (from NIH):

  • Includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products
  • Gets protein from lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts
  • Limits saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars
  • Controls portion sizes

Exercise To Lose Weight

Cardiovascular exercises like running and biking are great ways to burn fat and lose weight. But what if you’re actually trying to lose weight? What type of exercises can you do to burn more calories, lose weight and look great?

The basis of strength training and losing weight is to progressively overload your muscles and make your body use more energy from stored fat. The idea is to progressively increase the weight you use and put a strain on your muscles.

This actually forces your muscles to breakdown and grow, but at the same time it forces your body to burn more calories. You lose weight and look great. Two wonderful benefits.

But, what do you do if you don’t want to lift weights or do other strenuous exercises? Sustained physical activity may be the answer to losing weight and keeping it off. Take a look at these moderate exercises and see how many of them you already do. As with any exercise program, start slowly, and gradually increase the intensity. Trying too hard at first can lead to injury.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need expensive and fancy equipment. Strength training can be done with very basic equipment or just body weight. There’s a lot of great equipment available, but a simple squat rack with a barbell and bench would be a handy and inexpensive addition to help you get started.

Getting started in a diet and exercise program to lose weight isn’t easy, especially if you’re trying to do it alone. Losing weight is not easy, but it’s not impossible and doesn’t have to hurt very much. Get a free copy of “The Fun of Getting Thin”.

The “The Fun of Getting Thin” is the most honest experience of losing weight that I’ve ever read. Don’t get discouraged when you read it, it was written more than 110 years ago. It does illustrate that you have to be committed to lose weight. Make a plan to lose weight and then map out your road to successful weight loss.

If you really want to lose weight, don’t give up and you will.