Its no real secret that most of us find it much easier to gain weight than to lose it. We lurch from one promised miracle weight loss program to another, always hopeful but rarely getting the results we want.
Faith that you can successfully lose weight is a must. Without believing you can you are more than likely doomed to failure once again. Along with faith you must also realize that this is a difficult journey you are undertaking, one with many pitfalls and obstacles. Having faith in yourself and a full understanding of the difficulties ahead make ultimate success all that more achievable.
Setting goals is an important part of losing weight but the goals must be reasonable and obtainable. If you would like to lose twenty pounds break that into something like 4 intermediate goals of 5 pounds each and give yourself a month to achieve each goal. That comes out to about a pound loss each week which can be done in a healthy manner. Think of it this way: If you start your program in April, you are going to be twenty pounds thinner by June, just in time for summer.
Water is your friend in any diet you chose. Do yourself a very large favor and get rid of all the soda and juice and stick to water for your hydration. Even diet soda is full of chemicals that you really don't need and a lot of juices have more sugar than you think. Some will say that water is the most boring, uninteresting thing they can think of and that may be true. But it is also true that water can be made more flavorful and interesting by purchasing sparkling water and adding lemon or lime. The result is just as refreshing and a lot healthier.
Select daily exercises that are enjoyable. If you hate what you are doing, you will probably lose the motivation to continue. Just because you are trying to lose weight doesn't mean that you can't have fun, too. Work out to an exercise game on your video game console, play a game of basketball or just go walking in an area that you think is beautiful. Try to select a variety of activities that you can look forward to and the weight will come off.
If you go into your diet expecting immediate results you are kidding yourself. The human body just isn't designed for rapid weight gain or loss. One reason that quick weight loss rarely works is because the body doesn't react well to being denied essential nutrients and switches into a survival mode that makes losing weight without starvation practically impossible. It probably took a while for your to put the weight on and it will take some time to take it off and still be healthy. Be prepared to be frustrated with a lack of instant success but understand that, by doing things the right way, you will be losing the weight forever.
In the end, losing weight is nor more complicated than eating fewer calories in a day than your body burns off. Once you put together a reasonable meal plan with some sensible exercise you have no choice but to lose weight as long as you stay with the program.
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