How to Design a Weight Loss Program

Weight loss boils down to a fairly broad-based theme: burn more calories than you take in. However, there are myriad of ways to go about this. You could increase your metabolism through occasional, extremely intense workouts, thus burning more calories when you are resting, or you could perform regular, longer, less-intense workouts that burn calories on their own but don't affect your metabolism. Or you could forgo exercise entirely and focus on reducing calorie intake through your diet. Most effective, though, is to combine these strategies into a comprehensive weight loss program.

Instructions

• 1

  Establish how much time you have for exercise. If you are extremely busy, make your exercises as efficient as possible by strength training and interval training, both of which you can do in an hour or less. However, if you have time to spare, go for a long walk each night, a less-intense, longer-term form of exercise.

• 2

  Establish how much food you need each day. Weigh yourself, write down everything you eat for a week or more, then weigh yourself again. If your weight has not changed, then the average daily number of calories is your maintenance level, or the amount your body needs to stay at one weight.

• 3

  Examine your list of foods and determine what you can cut out. Ensure that you still get 100 grams of carbohydrates each day.

• 4

  Create a 500-calorie a day deficit, either through dieting, exercising, or a combination of both. So, if you are cutting 200 calories a day by eating less or differently, you need to burn 300 through exercise. Combine diet and exercise to keep fatigue at bay, build muscle tone and strengthen your heart.