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Major Weight Loss

At least 60 million adults in the United States are now obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the American Heart Association, people who are obese or overweight have an increased risk for chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease. Overweight individuals can use this major weight-loss guide to lose weight, reduce their percent body fat and become overall healthier persons.

  1. Cut Calories

    • Diets that cut calories regardless of what type of food you eat will result in weight loss, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. As long as you're cutting calories, it does not matter if you're eating carbohydrates, fats or protein. Before you know how many calories to cut, you must determine what your resting metabolic rate is.

    Determining Your Resting Metabolic Rate

    • Your resting metabolic rate is the number of calories that your body burns in a day without exercise, according to Net Wellness, a service of the University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University. To measure a person's metabolic rate accurately, a person's oxygen intake while at rest must be measured. Special devices such as BodyGem can be used to accurately determine oxygen intake and metabolic rate. Alternatively, you can use the resting metabolic rate calculator on CaloriesPerHour.com to get a rough estimate.

    Creating a Weight-Loss Goal

    • Creating a weight-loss goal is perhaps the most important part of this major weight-loss guide. When creating a weight-loss goal, you need to decide how much weight you want to lose and how fast you want to lose it. Losing two pounds of weight per week is the fastest weight-loss rate that's considered safe. After creating a weight-loss goal, you'll need to create a daily calorie plan that will help you achieve your goal.

    Creating a Daily Calorie Budget

    • If your goal is to lose two pounds of weight per week or eight pounds in a month then you'll need to create a 1,000-calorie deficit each day. The size of your calorie deficit may be different if you have a smaller weight-loss goal. The best way to lose weight and reduce your percentage of body fat is to combine dieting and exercise, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. One successful strategy that you can use is to eat 500 calories less than your resting metabolic rate and burn 500 calories through exercise each day.

    Stay Hydrated

    • According to the Ohio State University Extension Program, drinking water and staying hydrated actually may help with weight loss. The first way that water helps with weight loss is by reducing your appetite for food. Drinking water may also slightly increase a person's metabolic rate throughout the day. According to the Mayo Clinic, people should drink at least 1.5 liters of water per day to stay healthy.

    Keep a Calorie Journal

    • Purchase a notebook and write down everything you eat throughout the day as you eat it. Write down how many calories each food item that you eat contains. Calorie journals provide individuals with a way to track how many calories they've eaten throughout the day while helping them stay within their calorie budget. If you follow this major weight-loss plan, then you'll be able to lose weight and become a healthier person.

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