Since excess weight puts you at risk for many health problems, you may need to set some weight loss plans to help avoid those risks and prevent disease.

But what should be your long-term goal? And what short-term goals should you set to help you get there? You have a better chance of attaining your goals if you make sure that the weight loss plans that you will use are sensible and reasonable right at the beginning.

Here are some guidelines from the experts in choosing weight loss plans and goals.

1. Be realistic

Most peoples long-term weight loss plans are more ambitious than they have to be.

For example, if you weigh 170 pounds and your long-term plan is to weigh 120, even if you have not weighed 120 since you were 16 and now you are 45, that is not a realistic weight loss goal.

Your body mass index or BMI is a good indicator of whether or not you need to shed of pounds. The ideal BMI range, according to the national Institutes of Health, is between 19 and 24.9. If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you are considered overweight. Any number above 30 is in the obesity range.

From this point of view, you will need a sensible weight loss plan that will correspond to the required BMI based on your height, because this is the primary factor that will affect your BMI.

2. Set appropriate objectives

Using a weight loss plan just for vanitys sake is psychologically less helpful than losing weight to improve health.

You have made a big step forward if you decide to undergo a weight loss plan that includes exercise and eating right so that you will feel better and have more energy to do something positive in your life.

3. Focus on doing, not losing

Rather than saying that you are going to lose a pound this week, say how much you are going to exercise this week. This would definitely make up of a sensible weight loss plan.

Keep in mind that your weight within a span of a week is not completely in your control, but your behavior is.

4. Build bit by bit

Short-term weight loss plans should not be pie-in-the-sky. This means that when you have never exercised at all, your best weight loss plan for this week should be based on finding three different one-mile routes that you can walk next week.

5. Keep up the self-encouragement

An all-or-nothing attitude only sets you up to fail. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fall short of some goals, just look ahead to next week. You do not need to have a perfect record.

After all, self-encouragement should definitely be a part of your weight loss plans. Otherwise, you will just fail in the end.

6. Use measurable measures

Saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to really get serious this week is not a goal that you can measure and should not be a part of your weight loss plan.

This is another reason why you should incorporate exercise on your weight loss plan and focus on it. You should be able to count up the minutes of exercise in order to be successful in your plan.

The bottom line is, people should make weight loss plans that will only remain as it is, just a plan. They have to put it into action by incorporating goals that will motivate them to succeed.

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There are certain healthy eating facts that dont change no matter what kind of a diet you follow, or what kind of lifestyle you have. Whether youre sedentary or active, too much saturated fat isnt good for you. Whether you eat 1600 calories a day or 2500, depending on your activity level, trans fats are unhealthy, for example. And whether youre trying to lose weight quickly or jump start a long-term weight loss program, fasting isnt a good choice for your body.

One of the healthy eating facts that we didnt have to worry about years ago is that trans fats are unhealthy. Some trans fats occur naturally in food, but those arent the same as the man-made trans fats that make up margarine and shortening, and are found in almost every commercially produced baked good you can find. Trans fats are also often included in boxed mixes that you prepare at home, and things like instant cocoa, because of its long shelf-life.

Hydrogenated fats like margarine and shortening became available in 1911. Before then trans fats werent something the average consumer had to worry about. Now, though, hydrogenated oils or trans fats are present in almost every type of food you can think of. The hydrogenation process keeps fats from going rancid for a longer period of time. But the link between hydrogenated oils and heart health is clearits worse for you than saturated fat.

This is one of the healthy eating facts that has prompted the government to step in. Theyve insisted that fast-food restaurants reduce the amount of trans fats in their food. Food manufacturers also have to include the amount of trans fats on their food labels, too. Carefully read food labels so that youre at least aware of what youre eating. Anything that says hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated is a trans fat, and something you want to avoid as much as possible. Eliminate these trans fats from your diet completely if you can.

Another one of the healthy eating facts that not too many people think about is how bad regular soft drinks are for your health. A can of regular soft drink contains about 9 teaspoons of sugar. And how often do you drink more than one soda in a day? Some people drink several sodas per day, preferring soda to beverages like water or tea.

Everyones going to eat sugar in some form, but moderation is called for. And when one soda provides you with 9 teaspoons of sugar, thats pretty much the sugar limit for the daythat we dont need refined sugar at all is one of the most ignored healthy eating facts. But most people have sugar in other forms, too, raising their daily total of sugar intake much higher.

Considering the rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related illnesses, cutting back on trans fat and soda in our diets is important. These healthy eating facts can make a huge difference in our weight and overall health if we dont ignore them

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You don’t have to watch the evening news to know that there is a growing obesity problem. Perhaps that’s why there are so many new diets being released all the time. Some of those diets work better than others, but not every diet works for everybody. That being said, there are some diets that work for most people; for example any plan that includes a 3 day diet menu can be quite effective.

It should be noted that there is no single 3 day diet. Instead, it’s a whole diet category. A few of the more popular examples include the 3 Day Grapefruit Diet, Cleveland Clinic Diet, Mayo Clinic Diet and the Tuna and Water Diet.

Each one has a different menu, but they all work on the same principle: that you can lose a lot of weight in three days if you restrict your calories enough. Of course there is more to it than that, as you will see.

You should always consult with your personal doctor before starting any diet program. Sure, a 3 day diet menu doesn’t last that long, but you still need to make sure that you are able to go on the diet and that there aren’t any underlying health problems. Once you get approval you can start the diet.

No matter which 3 day diet you choose, it is vital that you follow it exactly, and that you stick to it for the entire three days. Each menu will be designed in such a way that all of the foods work together and deviating from the plan even slightly can prevent you from losing weight. Furthermore, you shouldn’t do a 3 day diet for more than three days, as they are not meant to be long-term weight loss solutions.

As mentioned earlier, there are several 3 day diets to choose from, but each one is a bit different. The key to choosing the right one is to be honest with yourself. Look at all of the foods you will be eating (and how often) and ask yourself if you like all of the foods. Again, it’s vital that you follow the diet exactly. To put it another way, if you know you won’t eat a certain food, then find another diet that you will like.

While a 3 day diet menu isn’t meant to be done for more than three days, you can lose a weight in that amount of time. You can stop there and enjoy the weight loss, or you can consider a jump start on a longer term diet plan. Either way, losing weight fast is a good motivator. You will be thinner, look better and feel great. So go ahead and find a diet that’s right for you…you’ll be glad you did.

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You would have to be living in a cave to not be aware that there are a lot of diets out there. All of them make claims about how much weight you can lose, and each one is a bit different. One of the more popular diets to come out recently is the 3 Day Tuna Diet. There are many good reasons for choosing this eating plan over others.

If you have looked into other diets, then chances are that you have noticed that many of them list tuna as a food you can eat. To be fair, tuna can be high in sodium and fat, but if you get it packed in spring water, then you can keep the calories under control. Other than that, tuna is inexpensive, convenient and an excellent source of complete protein.

Even though tuna stands as a good food on its own, the 3 Day Tuna Diet is about losing weight quickly. As the name says, it only lasts for three days, so it’s not meant to be followed as a long-term weight loss solution. It’s best used as a way to drop some weight before an event of some kind, or as a way to jump start a longer term weight loss plan.

While everybody is different, and results will vary, some people have reported a weight loss as high as six pounds while on the diet. A word of caution is in order. It is generally recommended that you lose no more than one or two pounds per week, so six pounds in three days would typically be thought of as risky. For this reason, you should talk to your personal doctor before going on the 3 Day Tuna Diet.

There are actually two variations of the diet: strict and less strict. The strict version fully lives up to its name. When doing the strictest version of the diet, you eat nothing but tuna and drink nothing but water for three days. Again, this should never be done for more than three days, and then only after getting the okay from your doctor. The silver lining is that you can eat as much of it as you wish, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting hungry. It won’t be easy, so don’t kid yourself, but it will be effective if you can stick with it.

The less strict version of the 3 Day Tuna Diet adds a few more foods to the menu, and is therefore better balanced nutritionally; though tuna still figures heavily in what you’ll be eating. Breakfast includes 1/2 cup tuna and 1/2 large grapefruit. Lunch is 1/2 cup tuna and salad made of greens only, and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil for dressing. Supper is 1 cup tuna and 1 cup each of two different vegetables.
That’s the 3 Day Tuna Diet in a nutshell. It isn’t a long-term diet solution, but it can be used on occasion when you need to lose weight quickly.

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