Losing twenty pounds in one month is a reasonable goal; it allows you time to change your eating habits and exercise regimen, and promotes the idea that weight loss should be the gradual result of a sensible eating and healthy exercise. You may lose a little more or less than twenty pounds, but if you diet right, you will keep the weight off and know make long-lasting healthy decisions.
Cut the Sugar
Sugary products contain little fat, but they can contain many calories that your body will convert to fat. Just because a food claims to be "fat free" doesn't mean you won't gain weight. Substitute fruits and vegetables for items like chips and cookies.
Watch What You Drink
Everyone thinks dieting means cutting fat from what you eat. While that's part of the picture, watching what you drink will help you greatly. Alcohol kills any diet. Alcoholic beverages contain many calories and present a huge obstacle to weight loss: Calories from alcohol cannot be stored, so your body must burn them first. Holding off on drinking can help you cut a few pounds in a couple of weeks.
If you like soda, switch to diet soda, or unsweetened iced tea with lemon. If you drink coffee, take it black or use skim milk and do not add sugar.
Exercise
While you can lose weight strictly through dieting, you have a better chance of keeping it off if you incorporate regular exercise into your life. Walking or cycling for 30 minutes a day is a good start; joining a gym and working with a personal trainer is better. Exercise will increase the rate at which your body burns calories (metabolism) and it will help you stave off storing calories as fat.
Lifting weights will turn your muscles into fat-burning machines. Adding muscle will not help you lose weight in the strictest sense (muscle actually weighs more than fat), but will make you leaner and more fit.
Portion Control
When you're not dieting, the tendency is to eat too much. And when you are dieting, the tendency is to eat too little. A good diet will keep you feeling full by using a couple of easy tricks: First, eat small meals regularly and a couple of good snacks throughout the day. You'll be amazed at how much more full an apple will keep you than a bag of greasy chips. Second, eat food that staves off hunger. Foods high in fiber are satisfying and generally good for you, too.
Eat Slowly
Another trick to portion control is eating slowly. It takes your stomach some time to send messages to your brain. Before you go for seconds, give yourself a few minutes; you may be full and not even know it. If after five or ten minutes you still feel hungry, slowly eat just a little more and wait again.
Natural Foods Are Best
A good diet keeps you full while cutting calories and satisfying your body's nutritional needs. While this seems like a juggling act, it's actually simple: Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, eat whole-grain bread instead of white-flour bread, avoid refined sugar, eat lots of fiber, get your protein from lean meat such as grilled fish or chicken, avoid deep-fried foods, and cook using healthy oils, such as olive or canola oil.
Drink Lots of Water
Your body often mistakes thirst for hunger. Staying hydrated will not only help your body keep a healthy metabolism, it will also keep you from feeling hungry when you're not.
Avoid Quick Weight Loss Plans
Lasting weight loss comes only through sensible eating and reasonable exercise. Gimmicky diet plans may help you burn a bit of weight quickly, but these plans won't equip you with the long-lasting knowledge to keep the weight off and live a healthier life.
Do Not Fear Food
Food is something you need, and it is something everyone should enjoy. A well-balanced weight-loss plan shouldn't leave you suffering from hunger pangs or cravings. Your diet should help you enjoy foods that are good for you and limit your consumption of foods that aren't so healthy to moderate portions on special occasions.
