Weight loss is all about burning more calories than you eat, but what’s the best way to do that? Knowing the basics of how to lose weight, how to exercise for weight loss and how to motivate yourself are essential for creating a program that works for you.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you know it can be a difficult process. But, there are ways to make it easier. Understanding exactly what you need to do to lose weight is your first step
Despite what you may think, losing weight isn’t a mysterious process. In fact, weight loss doesn’t even have to involve strange diets, special exercises or even the ‘magic’ of pills or fitness gadgets. Want the secret to weight loss? Make small changes each and every day and you’ll slowly (but surely) lose those extra pounds.

Rules of Weight Loss

To lose one pound, you must burn approximately 3500 calories  over and above what you already burn doing daily activities.
1.  Calculate your BMR  (basal metabolic rate). Your BMR is what your body needs to maintain normal functions like breathing, digestion, etc.
2. Calculate your activity level. Use a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you burn while sitting, standing, exercising, lifting weights, etc. throughout the day.
3. Keep track of how many calories you eat. Use a food journal to add up what you eat and drink during the day. If you’re eating less calories than you’re burning, you’ll lose weight.

Setting weight loss goals is probably one of the more difficult things to do when you embark on an exercise and/or diet program. How much do you need to lose?

That question is hard to answer and often based on your particular goals. If you’re losing weight for your health, your goal might be more modest, say 5-10% of your current weight. But what if you have something more specific in mind like a certain clothing-size you want to fit into? How do you set a reasonable goal for yourself?

The key to setting weight loss goals is to follow the standard of goal setting. It needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and tangible. Your first step is determining if you really need to lose weight.

Do You Need to Lose Weight?

If you talk to most people, you’ll probably find that everyone feels like they need to lose weight, even people who appear to be at a healthy weight. Often our weight loss goals are based on what we think we should look like rather than what’s reasonable for our bodies right now.

In general, a candidate for weight loss may have the following characteristics:

* A BMI of more than 25
* A Waist-Hip ratio of higher than .8 for women and higher than 1.0 for men
* An Abdominal Girth measurement of more than 35 inches in women and 40 inches in men

Of course, those aren’t the only clues that tell us we need to lose weight. There are those annoying indications like tight clothes, getting out of breath doing simple activities, or stepping on a scale for the first time in awhile. But, before you set goals based on what you think you should weigh, make sure you really need to lose weight.

Set Your Goals

If you’ve determined you do need to lose weight, your next step is to set a reasonable weight loss goal for yourself. You can base your goals on any number of  factors, but a great place to start would be the general recommendations set out by the American College of Sports Medicine which are 5-10% of body weight or one to two pounds per week.

Healthy Weight Loss

Serious weight loss requires a strong and realistic mental approach, it’s no good thinking that you can jump straight in, starve yourself for a month and come out the other end looking like Jessica Alba. It is no good starting a diet with the solitary goal of losing weight quickly, and in any case, it is very easy to achieve quick weight loss, well for the first two to three weeks anyway.

Most people do not know or have chosen to ignore the fact that weight loss is in fact a long term lifestyle change rather than a quick weight loss competition and in order to achieve the best long term results, a concerted effort must be made to change the two factors that affect your weight.

1. Diet:
You are what you eat. If you eat nothing but food drenched in fat  inevitably you will be fat, unless, of course,  you were born with an unbelievably high metabolic rate, in which case you will be the envy of every woman in the world!

There are hundreds of weight loss plans and diets for sale that promise quick weight loss and I will let you in on a little secret about them, they ALL work! Every diet or weight loss plan that promises quick weight loss is designed to do just what it says, but here’s the catch, that is all they will do. There is no continued weight loss after an initial period, only an immediate bodily reaction to a reduced intake of calories.

They all work in the same way, they all reduce drastically the amount of calories the body was consuming before the diet was started. The body takes two to three weeks to adapt to burning calories at the new lower level and during that time it has continued to burn the calories at the older, higher rate, hence great and sometimes astonishingly quick weight loss.

The only way to achieve long term weight loss is to change the foods that you eat and the way that you eat them.

2. Exercise:
Forget the idea that cutting out fat alone and dieting hard will get you the results you crave, to achieve permanent lasting weight loss exercise is key. One of the best forms of exercise that increases metabolic burn is weight training.

The common belief is that weight training is for men and that women will lose their femininity by working out with weights, nothing could be farther from the truth. Women’s muscles don’t grow in the same way as men’s do because of the lack of the male hormone testosterone; not only that, but we all tend to see images of female bodybuilders in our heads rather than the aforementioned Jessica Alba why? Most of the female celebrities we see on the big screen or on the TV work out with weights, and the reason is that they are the most effective method of controlling weight through exercise.

The better physical shape you are in the better you will burn fat and the healthier you will be. Your sleep will improve as will your stamina, immune system and most importantly to many women, the tone and condition of your skin!

There are quick weight loss plans however that are designed to help people lose weight quickly initially and then steadily until you reach your desired goal. They use methods that fool the body into burning more calories than the body has ingested. To find out more visit the site linked to at the foot of this article.

If you want to know what programs can provide you with a Quick Weight Loss Strategy and a long term plan check out the following site and take action that will improve your health and weight at HowMuchShouldIWeighnow.com or AmIFatNow.com.