How to Achieve Lasting Weight Loss

Losing weight is simple enough, but keeping it off is another matter. You don’t want to waste your time following a very restrictive diet plan so that you can lose lots of weight only to regain every single pound lost. This can be extremely frustrating and is hardly going to benefit your health or self-esteem. You end up depressed because you thought you'd found a way to control your weight and so you're left with feelings of hopelessness, although you may be able to overcome them enough to try to lose weight again.

However, if you go about weight loss in a similar yet somewhat different way you could end up in exactly the same situation; losing weight then gaining it all back again. You therefore need to ignore all the various fad diets that are available and focus on the basics. To achieve lasting weight loss you have to be prepared to count calories and to exercise regularly so that you calorie intake doesn't exceed your calorie requirements.

In fact, when you're trying to lose weight you actually have to build up a calorie deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than you burn. Once you have reached your weight-loss goal you then have to increase your calorie intake or reduce your calorie expenditure so that the number of calories you consume is the number you need. Therefore, it makes sense to take a sensible approach to weight loss to make the process of adapting to your new weight easier.

A sensible approach to weight loss is one where you don’t seek to lose more than a couple of pounds a week. If you're serious about achieving lasing weight loss you can make it easier on yourself by adopting a diet plan that enables you to eat properly, rather than one which gets you to cut out various foodstuffs. Your main focus has to be on calories more than anything else; that way you can still eat the foods you love, though maybe less of them.

It's obviously easier to stick to a diet when you don't feel as though you are being deprived of anything, which is important if you want to keep off any weight you lose, as you can'tt expect to avoid the temptation of chocolate and other calorific goodies forever! Exercise can help with this, as getting active increases your metabolism and enables you to burn more calories.

Once you have reached your weight-loss goal you can't simply abandon your diet and exercise regime if you want to remain slim and so you have to be prepared to stick with the habits that you've had to embrace in order to lose weight.