Trying to figure out how to lose weight can be a challenge for the best of us. If you need help losing weight then there are some tips that may help get you started in the right direction.

Losing weight is going to be different for each of us and we will all be presented with our own special challenges. But, everyone can start out with the same advice. Alter your diet, get enough water to drink every day and get some sort of daily exercise.

If you adhere to the following guidelines you should be able to get the help losing weight you need and shed at least a few pounds and start to look better in the mirror.

If you have a significant amount of weight to lose then break it up into smaller goals. Say you have 100 pounds to lose, break that down to losing ten pounds at a time and tell yourself you only have to lose ten pounds ten times. That sounds a lot better than telling yourself that you have 100 pounds to lose, doesn’t it?

Setting small realistic goals that are easier to reach will help keep your motivation high and you will be able to see small successes all along the way. Treat each one as a check in the win column and celebrate. Eventually you will only have the last ten pounds to lose and you will wonder at how easy it really was to accomplish.

Find an exercise routine that you think you can stick with and start doing it everyday. If walking on the treadmill is not your thing then find another way to get at least thirty minutes of exercise each day. Walk around your neighborhood or join the local pool and check out the times they let people come and do their lap swim.
Swimming is a great way to get your whole body into shape.

In addition to your regular exercise try to remember to park farther away from the door of the store and sneak in some extra exercise that way. If the parking lot is big enough then you could probably realistically add another quarter mile or so to your daily exercise routine. Walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

Your diet is just as important as the exercise you get. Eat healthier by adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to each meal you eat. Nuts like pistachios and almonds are great ways to get a lot of the good fats that you have heard so much about these days. Change the oil you use to olive oil and eat lots of greens either as salads or sides and eat more whole grain, as well.

Stoke your metabolism by eating several small meals throughout your day. Your metabolism will begin to wake up and you will actually feel hungry again. Plan your day out so you can have what you need to eat right at your finger tips. If you need to cook a piece of chicken then cook several so they are right there for you and all you have to do is reheat them. Making things more convenient will be a great help losing weight.

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By now there’s a good chance that you know 3,500 calories is equal to about one pound of body weight. In other words, you will lose a pound for every 3,500 calories you get rid of, and you will gain one pound for every 3,500 calories you add on. If you are serious about losing weight, then a calories burned counter is a tool you should make regular use of.

You will notice that 3,500 calories works out nicely to an even 500 calories per day for a week. Furthermore, there are only two real ways that you can have direct control over those calories: what you eat and the exercise you do. Yes, your metabolism plays a role, but that isn’t quite as easy to control directly. So, diet and exercise it is.

A calories burned counter will let you know how many calories you burn during any activities you participate in. This is critical information if you are trying to get rid of some extra pounds. Knowing how many calories you’re expending will help you to stay on track, and can also serve as motivation. After all, you don’t always see results in the mirror right away, but if you know you’re burning calories then you can assure yourself that noticeable results are just around the corner.

To get the full picture, you will also want to get a regular calorie counter which tells you how many calories are in the foods you eat. This way you will be able to know not only how many calories you’re burning, but how many you’re taking in as well.

Health experts typically recommend that losing one to two pounds per week is safe, and has the added benefit of being a more sustainable form of weight loss–you take it off and keep it off. Now that you have your calorie counters you can aim for a loss of 500 to 1,000 calories per day. Don’t worry, there’s no need to starve yourself or wear yourself out by exercising. In fact, it’s not a good idea at all.

The best way to lose weight is a combination of diet and exercise. Therefore, if you take in 250 calories less per day and burn off an extra 250 per day, you will lose one pound per week. If you want to lose two pounds per week, then eat 500 fewer calories and burn off an extra 500.

There is one catch that you should be aware of: a calories burned counter only works when you use it. If you never check it, then it won’t do you any good at all. However, when you do use it, you will have another powerful tool to help you lose weight. So, what are you waiting for? You can do it! All it takes is knowing how many calories you’re taking in and how many you’re burning.

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Being overweight is kind of funny in a way. It sort of creeps up on you. Sure, the scale may tell you that you have put on a few pounds over the years, but you don’t really notice it…until one day you see a picture of yourself or catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. “When did this happen”, you think to yourself. Surely you can’t be that fat, but there’s the proof. However you put those pounds on, right now you just want to know the secrets to losing weight quickly.

It may sound obvious, but you need to know what those secrets are before you can start taking advantage if them. See, a lot of people think that weight loss just happens somehow. Maybe if they think positive thoughts or try something the weight will come off. Sorry, that just doesn’t work in the real world.

But why try to lose weight quickly in the first place? After all, the so-called experts say you shouldn’t lose any more than one or two pounds per week. the truth is that they are right, for the most part. However, that’s mainly for long-term weight loss. If you’re fairly healthy, and your doctor says it’s okay (always check with your doctor before making drastic changes to your eating or exercise habits), then losing more is fine.

One of the biggest reasons for looking for the secrets to losing weight quickly, is that you can see results that much sooner. If you only lose one or two pounds at a time, then it’s going to take a while before it’s really noticeable. On the other hand, if you lose five to ten pounds in the first two weeks, you will notice, and that can motivate you to stay on whatever program you choose. Then, after the initial burst of losing a lot of weight, you can go back to the more sustainable rate of losing one to two pounds per week.

You may have heard it before: 3,500 calories is the equivalent of one pound of body weight. Every diet that works, works because of this simple principle. They may try to hide what they’re doing behind some sort of gimmick (cabbage soup, anyone?), but the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in.

3,500 is a nice round number because it translates into 500 calories per day for one week. If you can cut you caloric intake by just 500 calories, then you will lose one pound in a week. That’s not fast weight loss, but it adds up to just over 50 pounds in a year. Now, if you can do enough physical activity to burn off 500 calories per day then that’s another pound, and you can shed about 100 pounds in a year.

This is what it comes down to: the secrets to losing weight quickly are to start off strong so you stay motivated, and to combine both diet and exercise to get double the results in the same amount of time.

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Perhaps you saw it coming for quite a while, and knew it would get to this point. Or, maybe you looked in the mirror one day and all of a sudden realized just how much weight you have put on over the years. Chances are good that the second scenario is more likely. Most of us don’t want to be overweight. And while we may have a few clues as to how we got here, it still comes as somewhat of a shock. Either way, you have finally made the decision to shed those extra pounds once and for all, and you want to lose weight fast.

Hold on! That is an admirable goal, but you need to step back for a moment and put things into perspective. To put it another way, you need to be realistic and specific. How much weight you want to lose and how quickly will play a bog role in which diet and exercise program you choose.

You still have to be realistic though. If you want to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks, then you’re not going to have much luck. Not only that, but any diet that makes such promises is most likely lying at best, or bad for your health at worst. It simply isn’t safe to lose that much weight, except for a few rare exceptions, and only if you are doing so under the guidance of a qualified medical professional.

Most experts agree that losing 1 or 2 pounds per week is safe and effective. However, you may be able to bump that up to 5 pounds in the first week in some cases. For most people, 1 to 2 pounds is ideal. It’s not only relatively easy, but you will be more likely to stay on such a diet. If you have a choice between losing 20 pounds over two months, only to regain it; or losing 1 pound per week over the course of 6 months, but keeping it off forever, which one would you choose.

The good news is that you don’t really have to choose. You can still lose the 20 pounds, but if you take the right approach, you will be able to keep it off. It’s all about a simple formula: 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound of body weight. That means if you take in 500 calories less per day for a week, you will lose 1 pound. Or, if you burn off an extra 500 calories per day, you will lose a pound.

So, here’s the real “secret” to lose weight fast: do both! Take in 500 calories less and burn off an extra 500 calories. That’s 1,000 calories per day in your favor. That’s a loss of 2 pounds per week, or just over 100 pounds in a year’s time. And the best part it is that it won’t be nearly as hard as if you were depriving yourself, and that means you will be able to keep the weight off for good.

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