Anyone who is unsure about safe levels of exercise should speak to a healthcare professional. It is possible to consume hundreds of calories a day by drinking sugar-sweetened soda, tea, juice, or alcohol.

Unless a person is consuming a smoothie to replace a meal, they should aim to stick to water or unsweetened tea and coffee. Adding a splash of fresh lemon or orange to water can provide flavor. Avoid mistaking dehydration for hunger.

An individual can often satisfy feelings of hunger between scheduled meal times with a drink of water. Therefore, people should avoid estimating a serving size or eating food directly from the packet.

It is better to use measuring cups and serving size guides. Guessing leads to overestimating and the likelihood of eating a larger-than-necessary portion.

These sizes are not exact, but they can help a person moderate their food intake when the correct tools are not available. Many people benefit from mindful eating, which involves being fully aware of why, how, when, where, and what they eat.

People who practice mindful eating also try to eat more slowly and savor their food, concentrating on the taste. Making a meal last for 20 minutes allows the body to register all of the signals for satiety.

Many social and environmental cues might encourage unnecessary eating. For example, some people are more likely to overeat while watching television. Others have trouble passing a bowl of candy to someone else without taking a piece.

By being aware of what may trigger the desire to snack on empty calories, people can think of ways to adjust their routine to limit these triggers. Stocking a kitchen with diet-friendly foods and creating structured meal plans will result in more significant weight loss. People looking to lose weight or keep it off should clear their kitchen of processed or junk foods and ensure that they have the ingredients on hand to make simple, healthful meals.

Doing this can prevent quick, unplanned, and careless eating. Planning food choices before getting to social events or restaurants might also make the process easier.

Some people may wish to invite friends or family members to join them, while others might prefer to use social media to share their progress. Weight loss is a gradual process, and a person may feel discouraged if the pounds do not drop off at quite the rate that they had anticipated.

Some days will be harder than others when sticking to a weight loss or maintenance program. A successful weight-loss program requires the individual to persevere and not give up when self-change seems too difficult.

Some people might need to reset their goals, potentially by adjusting the total number of calories they are aiming to eat or changing their exercise patterns. The important thing is to keep a positive outlook and be persistent in working toward overcoming the barriers to successful weight loss.

Successful weight loss does not require people to follow a specific diet plan, such as Slimming World or Atkins.

Instead, they should focus on eating fewer calories and moving more to achieve a negative energy balance. Weight loss is primarily dependent on reducing the total intake of calories, not adjusting the proportions of carbohydrate , fat, and protein in the diet.

A reasonable weight loss goal to start seeing health benefits is a 5—10 percent reduction in body weight over a 6-month time frame. Most people can achieve this goal by reducing their total calorie intake to somewhere in the range of 1,—1, calories per day.

A diet of fewer than 1, calories per day will not provide sufficient daily nutrition. After 6 months of dieting, the rate of weight loss usually declines, and body weight tends to plateau because people use less energy at a lower body weight.

Following a weight maintenance program of healthful eating habits and regular physical activity is the best way to avoid regaining lost weight. People who have a BMI equal to or higher than 30 with no obesity-related health problems may benefit from taking prescription weight-loss medications.

These might also be suitable for people with a BMI equal to or higher than 27 with obesity-related diseases. However, a person should only use medications to support the above lifestyle modifications. Don't know where to start? Start walking. Create small, attainable goals like 15 minutes per day and work up to 30 minutes.

If you currently walk 2, steps per day, don't try to walk 10, Start with 4, per day and add more every couple of weeks.

Next, add strength training, using either weights or your body weight. Start with one day per week and work up to two to four times per week. Strength training builds muscle, and muscle burns calories even when you're sitting at your desk all day.

Cardio exercise, like running, biking or swimming, is great too. A good balance is daily walking, strength training two to four times per week and cardio or high-intensity interval training HIIT one to three times per week.

Progressively increasing your exercise frequency and intensity will help you stick to it. And the best exercise is the one that you'll keep doing. A calorie deficit is needed for weight loss, but instead of focusing on what to restrict, focus on what to add.

The body breaks down protein, carbohydrates and fat from food and absorbs the nutrients. If you're eating more calories than your body needs, the extra will be stored as fat. However, the body doesn't absorb or store fiber. Fiber passes through the stomach and intestines largely unabsorbed, bulks everything up and then you poop it out.

Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes. By making half your plate vegetables and fruits at most meals, you automatically shift the caloric composition of your meal.

For example, 1 cup of pasta or rice is calories, but 1 cup of vegetables is about 30 calories. So not only can you eat more vegetables for fewer calories, but you also get the added benefit of the fiber as well as vitamins and minerals , which moves through your system slowly, keeping you full longer.

Fiber also expands and slows the emptying of the stomach, which sends signals to the brain that you are full. Gut bacteria feed off fiber and produce short-chain fatty acids, like acetate, which plays a role in regulating body weight, according to a review in Nutrients.

Aim for 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day or about 8 to 10 g per meal. Along with fiber, eat protein at every meal, especially breakfast.

A review in Nutrients suggests that when people eat a high-protein breakfast, they have fewer cravings and eat less later in the day. Protein suppresses the hunger hormone, ghrelin, and is digested slowly, keeping you full longer.

When protein is eaten with carbohydrates, it slows the rise of blood sugar, which prevents the spike-and-crash effect that leaves you craving carbs an hour after you eat. Include protein, fiber and healthy fat at each meal.

Protein needs are based on weight, but about 20 g per meal is a good starting point. According to the USDA, a serving of Greek yogurt packs 16 g of protein, and you can pair it with berries for fiber. Three ounces of cooked chicken , about the size of a deck of cards, has about 26 g of protein.

Beans are a protein-packed vegetarian option. If you feel overwhelmed with how much weight you have to lose, start small. Don't try to tackle everything at once. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you need to embrace a long-term mentality and focus on small habit changes.

Get professional help so you have accountability and can focus on the habits that move the needle most. Track other metrics, along with the scale. Finally, move your body most days, focus on making half your plate vegetables at meals, get out of the all-or-nothing mentality and celebrate your success along the way!

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance.

Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content.

List of Partners vendors. Special Diets Weight Loss. By Lainey is a weight-loss dietitian who helps people ditch diets, change their habits and create a healthy lifestyle that lasts. Lainey Younkin, M.

EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines. Sweetened beverages like soda and juice can make up a surprising portion of the calories you consume each day, yet they don't fill you up the same way solid food does. As part of an eight-year study that included nearly 50, women , Harvard researchers tracked what happened when people either slashed their intake of sweetened drinks or started consuming more of them.

Not surprisingly, the participants who raised their sugary-drink intake gained weight and increased their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. In fact, the more people's sweet-drink intake increased, the more weight they gained and the more their disease risk went up.

So the next time you're looking for something other than water to drink, try seltzer or unsweetened tea. Even diet soda is probably a better choice. Every time you pick one of these over a sweetened beverage, you'll also be cutting anywhere from to calories.

One of the least healthy components of most American diets appears to be refined carbohydrates, a category that includes white bread and white rice. Refined carbs can also be found in lots of other processed foods — they appear on nutrition labels as "refined flour" or just "flour.

A study published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research found strong links between diets high in refined carbohydrates and weight gain. One reason for this may be that refined grains are processed quickly and turned into sugar in the body.

Whole grains, on the other hand, get digested slowly and fill you up for hours. The key difference is that whole grains still have their nutritious, fiber-rich outer shells, such as the germ and bran. Those parts get stripped off of refined carbs in a factory before you eat them. Roxanne B.

Sukol, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Enterprise, said people should think of refined carbohydrates simply as "stripped carbs" and avoid them whenever possible.

Even if you're eating whole grains instead of refined ones, you should keep in mind that some researchers believe they all end up getting processed the same way. That means cutting back on any kind of carbohydrate is likely a smart move.

Try swapping flour-based noodles with spiralized carrot or zucchini noodles, for example. Several studies suggest that curbing your carb intake is an easy way to help stabilize blood-sugar levels as well.

And having steady blood-sugar levels — aka tight glycemic control — has been linked with beneficial health outcomes including weight loss, better energy levels throughout the day, and a reduced risk of chronic disease.

Her study found links between poorly controlled blood-sugar levels and obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. For sustainable weight loss, dietitians, exercise scientists, and nutritionists all recommend aiming to lose only one to three pounds a week — at the most.

Slimming down slowly instead of all at once gives you enough time to create healthy new eating and exercise patterns that you can maintain for life, Andy Bellatti , a registered dietitian and the cofounder of Dietitians for Professional Integrity , told Business Insider last year.

That is hard work. You're building new habits. And that takes time," Bellatti said. Exercise is not a shortcut to weight loss, for two reasons: First, when we amp up our activity levels, our hunger levels tend to increase as well.

Second, it's far easier to eat hundreds of calories in a single sitting than it is to burn them off in one gym session. That said, regular movement of any kind is a key component of any healthy lifestyle — and it's especially important if you're looking to slim down and keep the weight off for the long haul.

If you normally drive to work, try walking, biking, or taking public transit when possible. If you're used to taking the elevator, hit the stairs next time. And make regular gym sessions part of your routine — but keep in mind that your appetite may increase a bit.

Protein is a key ingredient that helps fuel our muscles and keep us feeling full. It also slows the breakdown of carbs into sugar, thereby acting as a sort of buffer against sharp dips and spikes in insulin levels.

For these reasons, it's a good idea to make sure you're getting enough protein in every meal. Many Americans whose diets are based around meat actually get too much protein. But there's some evidence that people who try to switch to a more plant-based diet have a hard time getting enough.

To make sure your protein intake isn't slouching, add items like eggs , beans, tofu, lentils, fish, and dairy products to vegetable- and whole-grain-based meals. One reason for this is that many products labeled "low fat," "light," and "reduced fat" things like yogurt, ice cream , and peanut butter are highly processed and engineered to taste like their original full-fat predecessors.

To accomplish this, food manufacturers typically add extra sugar — and sugar, unlike fat, has been strongly implicated as a leading factor contributing to obesity and weight gain. One reason many dieters curb their fat intake — besides the lingering influence of the low-fat dieting trend of the s — is that it's an easy way to cut calories.

Fat is high in calories.

Use an activity you love as your primary form of exercise, whether running, cycling, hiking, swimming or walking. Here are some simple, sustainable ideas for healthy eating:. Articles September 5 Habits for Sustainable Weight Category: Choose health , Wellness Posted On: Sep 8, If you ever started dieting to lose weight, only to gain it all back shortly after you stop, you are not alone.

Drink black coffee. Get your protein from poultry, fish and beans. Replace butter with olive or canola oil. Switch to low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Protein also helps preserve muscle mass while boosting metabolism. While diet is the most important aspect of weight loss, exercise is critical for maintaining it.

Younkin explained that the best kind of exercise for losing weight and keeping it off is adding strength training to consistent daily movement.

Making sustainable changes can also come in the form of choosing the right goals. Instead of fixating on weight, choosing general, health-promoting goals can be a healthy shift in forming sustainable habits. Instead of micromanaging the number on the scale, focus on goals like including more foods that directly promote wellbeing.

Eat more fruits and vegetables for more fiber to influence digestive health, eat more healthy fats for heart health, and move more for better blood pressure and blood sugar.

Oftentimes during the weight loss phase, individuals use tracking apps and tools to stay mindful of food choices. This type of self-monitoring can be just as important in weight maintenance, as when people move away from these tools, it can be easy to lose awareness and return to old habits.

Seeking help from a registered dietitian who will not restrict foods while you work on your weight loss goals is recommended so that you can maintain a good relationship with food.

Signs you are heading in a disordered direction include constantly thinking about food and exercise, hyper fixation on the scale or the weight affecting your mood, cutting out too many foods or groups, and not engaging in social activities due to fear of food.

The healthiest weight for you is whatever the scale says when you are following a nutritious, balanced diet and moving your body in ways you enjoy.

Bosy-Westphal A, Kahlhöfer J, Lagerpusch M, Skurk T, Müller MJ. Deep body composition phenotyping during weight cycling: relevance to metabolic efficiency and metabolic risk. Obes Rev. Raynor HA, Champagne CM.

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: interventions for the treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. J Acad Nutr Diet. Cava E, Yeat NC, Mittendorfer B. Preserving healthy muscle during weight loss.

Adv Nutr. Cox CE. Role of physical activity for weight loss and weight maintenance. Take the assessment and get matched with a professional, licensed therapist.

Millions of readers rely on HelpGuide. org for free, evidence-based resources to understand and navigate mental health challenges. Please donate today to help us save, support, and change lives. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to go to the desired page.

Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Your Guide to Mental Health and Wellness. Return Mental Health. Autism Childhood Issues Learning Disabilities Family Caregiving Parenting Teen Issues. Return Relationships. Return Aging Well. Return Handbook. Healthy Living Aging in Place Sleep Online Therapy.

About Us Meet Our Team Our Story Jeanne Segal, Ph. Harvard Health Partnership Audio Meditations Newsletter. What's the best diet for healthy weight loss? Weight Loss How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off There's a better way to lose weight. Copy Link Link copied!

Download PDF. By Melinda Smith, M. and Lawrence Robinson. Four popular weight loss strategies Control emotional eating Stay motivated Cut down on sugar and refined carbs Fill up with fruit, veggies, and fiber Take charge of your food environment Get moving Keeping the weight off.

Four popular weight loss strategies 1. Cut calories Some experts believe that successfully managing your weight comes down to a simple equation: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight.

Weight loss isn't a linear event over time. When you cut calories, you may drop weight for the first few weeks, for example, and then something changes. You eat the same number of calories but you lose less weight or no weight at all.

That's because when you lose weight you're losing water and lean tissue as well as fat, your metabolism slows, and your body changes in other ways. So, in order to continue dropping weight each week, you need to continue cutting calories.

A calorie isn't always a calorie. Eating calories of high fructose corn syrup, for example, can have a different effect on your body than eating calories of broccoli. The trick for sustained weight loss is to ditch the foods that are packed with calories but don't make you feel full like candy and replace them with foods that fill you up without being loaded with calories like vegetables.

Many of us don't always eat simply to satisfy hunger. We also turn to food for comfort or to relieve stress—which can quickly derail any weight loss plan. Cut carbs A different way of viewing weight loss identifies the problem as not one of consuming too many calories, but rather the way the body accumulates fat after consuming carbohydrates—in particular the role of the hormone insulin.

Cut fat It's a mainstay of many diets: if you don't want to get fat, don't eat fat. Not all fat is bad. Unsaturated fats found in avocados, nuts, seeds, soy milk, tofu, and fatty fish can help fill you up, while adding a little tasty olive oil to a plate of vegetables, for example, can make it easier to eat healthy food and improve the overall quality of your diet.

We often make the wrong trade-offs. Many of us make the mistake of swapping fat for the empty calories of sugar and refined carbohydrates. Instead of eating whole-fat yoghurt, for example, we eat low- or no-fat versions that are packed with sugar to make up for the loss of taste.

Or we swap our fatty breakfast bacon for a muffin or donut that causes rapid spikes in blood sugar. Follow the Mediterranean diet The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating good fats and good carbs along with large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, fish, and olive oil—and only modest amounts of meat and cheese.

Control emotional eating We don't always eat simply to satisfy hunger. If you eat when you're: Stressed — find healthier ways to calm yourself. Speak to a Licensed Therapist BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more.

Take Assessment HelpGuide is user supported. Learn more. More Information Helpful links. How to Stay Motivated - Srini Pillay, MD, psychiatrist and brain imaging specialist, discusses the missing rewards that motivate healthy lifestyle change.

Harvard Health Publishing Lose Weight and Keep It Off - Smart approaches to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Harvard Medical School Special Health Report Weight-loss and Nutrition Myths - Debunking myths about food, dieting, and exercise. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease Losing Weight - Including tips for recognizing roadblocks and keeping the weight off.

American Heart Association Cutting Calories - Strategies for eating more while still losing weight, avoiding portion size pitfalls, and using fruits and vegetables to manage weight. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Low-Carbohydrate Diets - How a low-carbohydrate diet may help some people lose weight more quickly than a low-fat diet.

Harvard School of Public Health Just Enough for You: About Portion Sizes - Tips for managing portion sizes at home and when eating out.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. Carbohydrates and Blood Sugar The Nutrition Source Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health. Retrieved May 15, , from. Fats and Cholesterol The Nutrition Source Harvard T.

Ma, Y. Single-Component Versus Multicomponent Dietary Goals for the Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine , 4 , — Making one change—Getting more fiber—Can help with weight loss—Harvard Health. Nelson, J. Mindful Eating: The Art of Presence While You Eat. Diabetes Spectrum , 30 3 , — Research Findings.

Richter, J. Twice as High Diet-Induced Thermogenesis After Breakfast vs Dinner On High-Calorie as Well as Low-Calorie Meals.

They'll be able to go over any questions you have about the suggestions you find here. Author Michael Pollan may have condensed all the best nutrition wisdom into one line when he wrote: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Dozens of scientific studies have tied diets high in vegetables — especially greens — to better health outcomes , including weight loss and a decreased risk of a handful of chronic diseases. Veggies like watercress, spinach, chives, and collard greens all rank highly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's list of "powerhouse foods," so find a few you like, and start adding them to your plate.

But don't worry: Most of the research does not suggest a need to slash meat, dairy, or fish from your diet. In fact, the best results typically appear to come from diets that combine high amounts of vegetables with healthy sources of protein , which can include seafood, eggs, and meat.

Eating plans like these include the popular Mediterranean diet and MIND diet. Sweetened beverages like soda and juice can make up a surprising portion of the calories you consume each day, yet they don't fill you up the same way solid food does. As part of an eight-year study that included nearly 50, women , Harvard researchers tracked what happened when people either slashed their intake of sweetened drinks or started consuming more of them.

Not surprisingly, the participants who raised their sugary-drink intake gained weight and increased their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

In fact, the more people's sweet-drink intake increased, the more weight they gained and the more their disease risk went up. So the next time you're looking for something other than water to drink, try seltzer or unsweetened tea.

Even diet soda is probably a better choice. Every time you pick one of these over a sweetened beverage, you'll also be cutting anywhere from to calories.

One of the least healthy components of most American diets appears to be refined carbohydrates, a category that includes white bread and white rice. Refined carbs can also be found in lots of other processed foods — they appear on nutrition labels as "refined flour" or just "flour.

A study published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research found strong links between diets high in refined carbohydrates and weight gain. One reason for this may be that refined grains are processed quickly and turned into sugar in the body.

Whole grains, on the other hand, get digested slowly and fill you up for hours. The key difference is that whole grains still have their nutritious, fiber-rich outer shells, such as the germ and bran. Those parts get stripped off of refined carbs in a factory before you eat them. Roxanne B. Sukol, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Enterprise, said people should think of refined carbohydrates simply as "stripped carbs" and avoid them whenever possible.

Even if you're eating whole grains instead of refined ones, you should keep in mind that some researchers believe they all end up getting processed the same way. That means cutting back on any kind of carbohydrate is likely a smart move.

Try swapping flour-based noodles with spiralized carrot or zucchini noodles, for example. Several studies suggest that curbing your carb intake is an easy way to help stabilize blood-sugar levels as well. And having steady blood-sugar levels — aka tight glycemic control — has been linked with beneficial health outcomes including weight loss, better energy levels throughout the day, and a reduced risk of chronic disease.

Her study found links between poorly controlled blood-sugar levels and obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. For sustainable weight loss, dietitians, exercise scientists, and nutritionists all recommend aiming to lose only one to three pounds a week — at the most.

Slimming down slowly instead of all at once gives you enough time to create healthy new eating and exercise patterns that you can maintain for life, Andy Bellatti , a registered dietitian and the cofounder of Dietitians for Professional Integrity , told Business Insider last year.

That is hard work. You're building new habits. And that takes time," Bellatti said. Exercise is not a shortcut to weight loss, for two reasons: First, when we amp up our activity levels, our hunger levels tend to increase as well.

Second, it's far easier to eat hundreds of calories in a single sitting than it is to burn them off in one gym session. That said, regular movement of any kind is a key component of any healthy lifestyle — and it's especially important if you're looking to slim down and keep the weight off for the long haul.

If you normally drive to work, try walking, biking, or taking public transit when possible. If you're used to taking the elevator, hit the stairs next time. And make regular gym sessions part of your routine — but keep in mind that your appetite may increase a bit. Protein is a key ingredient that helps fuel our muscles and keep us feeling full.

It also slows the breakdown of carbs into sugar, thereby acting as a sort of buffer against sharp dips and spikes in insulin levels. For these reasons, it's a good idea to make sure you're getting enough protein in every meal. Set yourself up for weight-loss success by taking charge of your food environment: when you eat, how much you eat, and what foods you make easily available.

Cook your own meals at home. This allows you to control both portion size and what goes in to the food. Restaurant and packaged foods generally contain a lot more sugar, unhealthy fat, and calories than food cooked at home —plus the portion sizes tend to be larger.

Serve yourself smaller portions. Use small plates, bowls, and cups to make your portions appear larger. Don't eat out of large bowls or directly from food containers, which makes it difficult to assess how much you've eaten.

Eat early. Studies suggest that consuming more of your daily calories at breakfast and fewer at dinner can help you drop more pounds. Eating a larger, healthy breakfast can jump-start your metabolism, stop you feeling hungry during the day, and give you more time to burn off the calories.

Fast for 14 hours a day. Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and then fast until breakfast the next morning. Eating only when you're most active and giving your digestion a long break may aid weight loss. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. You can create your own small portion snacks in plastic bags or containers.

Eating on a schedule will help you avoid eating when you aren't truly hungry. Drink more water. Thirst can often be confused with hunger, so by drinking water you can avoid extra calories. Limit the amount of tempting foods you have at home. If you share a kitchen with non-dieters, store indulgent foods out of sight.

The degree to which exercise aids weight loss is open to debate, but the benefits go way beyond burning calories. Exercise can increase your metabolism and improve your outlook—and it's something you can benefit from right now.

Go for a walk, stretch, move around and you'll have more energy and motivation to tackle the other steps in your weight-loss program. Lack time for a long workout? Three minute spurts of exercise per day can be just as good as one minute workout.

Remember: anything is better than nothing. Start off slowly with small amounts of physical activity each day. Then, as you start to lose weight and have more energy, you'll find it easier to become more physically active.

Find exercise you enjoy. Try walking with a friend, dancing, hiking, cycling, playing Frisbee with a dog, enjoying a pickup game of basketball, or playing activity-based video games with your kids. Far from it. Since it was established in , The National Weight Control Registry NWCR in the United States, has tracked over 10, individuals who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods of time.

Whatever diet you use to lose weight in the first place, adopting these habits may help you to keep it off:. How choosing healthier carbs can improve your health and waistline. This diet can help fight heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, and more. How focusing on the experience of eating can improve your diet.

Tips for building a fitness plan, and finding the best exercises for you. BetterHelp makes starting therapy easy. Take the assessment and get matched with a professional, licensed therapist.

Millions of readers rely on HelpGuide. org for free, evidence-based resources to understand and navigate mental health challenges. Please donate today to help us save, support, and change lives. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to go to the desired page.

Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Your Guide to Mental Health and Wellness. Return Mental Health. Autism Childhood Issues Learning Disabilities Family Caregiving Parenting Teen Issues.

Return Relationships. Return Aging Well. Return Handbook. Healthy Living Aging in Place Sleep Online Therapy. About Us Meet Our Team Our Story Jeanne Segal, Ph. Harvard Health Partnership Audio Meditations Newsletter. What's the best diet for healthy weight loss?

Weight Loss How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off There's a better way to lose weight. Copy Link Link copied! Download PDF. By Melinda Smith, M. and Lawrence Robinson. Four popular weight loss strategies Control emotional eating Stay motivated Cut down on sugar and refined carbs Fill up with fruit, veggies, and fiber Take charge of your food environment Get moving Keeping the weight off.

Four popular weight loss strategies 1. Cut calories Some experts believe that successfully managing your weight comes down to a simple equation: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Weight loss isn't a linear event over time.

When you cut calories, you may drop weight for the first few weeks, for example, and then something changes. You eat the same number of calories but you lose less weight or no weight at all. That's because when you lose weight you're losing water and lean tissue as well as fat, your metabolism slows, and your body changes in other ways.

So, in order to continue dropping weight each week, you need to continue cutting calories. A calorie isn't always a calorie. Eating calories of high fructose corn syrup, for example, can have a different effect on your body than eating calories of broccoli.

The trick for sustained weight loss is to ditch the foods that are packed with calories but don't make you feel full like candy and replace them with foods that fill you up without being loaded with calories like vegetables.

Many of us don't always eat simply to satisfy hunger. Creating a supportive environment might considerably influence your efforts to lose weight [ 1 ]. It may be motivating, encouraging, and accountable to be surrounded by people who share your aspirations for health and fitness.

Find support, guidance and understanding from friends, family or online networks. A development mentality must be adopted if you want to lose weight permanently.

Accept the idea that difficulties and failures present chances for development and learning. You develop resilience and perseverance by viewing challenges as stepping stones rather than barriers. Consider that by putting in effort and being dedicated, you can improve your abilities and skills and make lasting improvements.

You may develop a nutritious strategy to feed your body and aid in long-term weight reduction by including mindful eating habits, emphasizing balanced and nutrient-dense meals and prioritizing consistency and sustainability in your diet.

Give priority to full, unprocessed meals with vital nutrients to encourage long-lasting fat reduction. Aim for a well-balanced diet that includes a range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and healthy fats.

Do not fall victim to fast remedies or restricted diets. Instead, concentrate on modifying your eating habits gradually and permanently.

Find an eating strategy that suits you and can be maintained over time. Achieving sustained fat reduction requires consistency, so develop a healthy routine you can stick with over time. For long-term fat loss, frequent physical activity, exercise, and a good diet are essential. You may improve your general fitness and maximize your attempts to lose weight by selecting fun exercises , developing a realistic training program and incorporating physical activity into your everyday life.

Take part in things you actually like doing. Finding activities you enjoy, whether dancing, hiking, swimming or playing a sport , enhances the probability that you will stick to your fitness program. Set realistic exercise plans that work with your lifestyle.

Create a schedule that is reasonable for you, taking into account your time constraints and responsibilities. Strive to balance pushing yourself and giving yourself time to relax and recuperate. Remember that sustainability is important, so try not to overwork yourself or have too high of expectations.

Find ways to move more throughout the day, such as by using the stairs rather than the elevator, traveling short distances on foot or by bike or partaking in sports or other active pastimes [ 2 ].

Some lifestyle choices are essential besides diet and exercise for sustained fat reduction. You may develop a healthy and sustainable attitude to your weight reduction journey by prioritizing restful sleep and recuperation, controlling emotional eating, monitoring your progress and acknowledging accomplishments.

For optimal fat reduction and general health, getting enough sleep is crucial. To promote hormonal balance, energy levels and recuperation, aim for 7 to 9 hours of good sleep each night. Additionally, control your stress levels by practicing mindfulness or relaxation techniques, as high stress might interfere with sleep.

Emotional eating can impede efforts toward long-term weight reduction. Instead of resorting to food to deal with emotions, stress or boredom, identify triggers and create alternate coping techniques. To resolve emotional eating patterns, participate in joyful activities, practice mindfulness or ask friends or specialists for assistance.

Track your development frequently to maintain responsibility and drive. Use tools like a food journal or a fitness app to keep track of your eating and exercise routines. Your success will be supported in the long run by recognizing and rewarding your accomplishments.

Maintaining motivation and getting beyond plateaus are frequent obstacles to lasting fat reduction. You may stay on track and keep moving toward your goals by discovering your intrinsic drive, making necessary adjustments to plateau-busting tactics and rewarding yourself accordingly.

Find and connect with the fundamental motivations driving your desire to lose weight permanently. Think about how it fits with your beliefs, goals for your health or desire for more confidence.

Eating protein, fat, and vegetables; drinking more water; increasing the fiber in your diet; and adding exercise may all help you reach your weight loss goals. But there may be other things to consider, like what medications you take, other health conditions you have, your hormones, and genetics.

Losing 10 pounds in a week is not realistic or sustainable. For safe and healthy weight loss , aim for 0. Losing 15 pounds in 2 weeks is unrealistic, unsustainable, and likely unsafe. Healthy weight loss is 0.

Read this article in Spanish. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

VIEW ALL HISTORY. Weight loss is a common goal, but you may want to know what a healthy rate for weight loss is. This article explains the factors that affect how long…. Diet and exercise may be key components of weight loss for women, but many other factors play a role.

Here are the top 23 weight loss tips for women. Highly effective, well-researched ways lose weight include limiting processed foods, drinking more green tea, and taking probiotics.

Most people who lose weight end up gaining it back within a year. Here are 17 effective ways to maintain your weight loss for good. See 9 effective exercises for full-body weight loss workouts along with diet and lifestyle tips to help you lose weight while staying fit.

Here are 16 effective ways you can motivate yourself to lose weight. People often lack the motivation to get started or continue on a weight loss diet.

Patients with diabetes who used GLP-1 drugs, including tirzepatide, semaglutide, dulaglutide, and exenatide had a decreased chance of being diagnosed…. Some studies suggest vaping may help manage your weight, but others show mixed….

The amount of time it takes to recover from weight loss surgery depends on the type of surgery and surgical technique you receive. New research suggests that running may not aid much with weight loss, but it can help you keep from gaining weight as you age.

Here's why. A Quiz for Teens Are You a Workaholic? How Well Do You Sleep? Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Nutrition Evidence Based Want to Lose Weight Fast? These Science-Backed Tips Can Help You Lose Weight Sustainably. Medically reviewed by Adrienne Seitz, MS, RD, LDN , Nutrition — By Kris Gunnars, BSc and Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD and Alina Sharon — Updated on October 31, How to lose weight in 6 simple steps.

Food type Adults Children Children Adolescents Protein ounces oz Food Healthy fat content almonds What about calories and portion control? A note on calorie counting Counting calories may be a helpful tool for some, but it may not be the best choice for everyone. Was this helpful?

Sample meal ideas for fast weight loss. How fast will you lose weight? Frequently asked questions. Bottom line. How we reviewed this article: Sources. Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations.

We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy. Oct 31, Written By Kris Gunnars, Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD, Alina Sharon. Medically Reviewed By Adrienne Seitz, MS, RD, LDN.

Jul 20, Written By Kris Gunnars, Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD, Alina Sharon. Share this article. Read this next. How Long Does It Take to Lose Weight? By Gavin Van De Walle, MS, RD.

Top 23 Weight Loss Tips for Women. By Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD. By Adda Bjarnadottir, MS, RDN Ice. The 17 Best Ways to Maintain Weight Loss.

Medically reviewed by Jake Tipane, CPT. GLP-1 Drugs Like Ozempic and Mounjaro Linked to Lower Risk of Depression Patients with diabetes who used GLP-1 drugs, including tirzepatide, semaglutide, dulaglutide, and exenatide had a decreased chance of being diagnosed… READ MORE.

Does Vaping Make You Lose Weight? Medically reviewed by Danielle Hildreth, RN, CPT. Joining a weight loss group or visiting a health care professional such as a registered dietitian may also help.

Revisit the goals you set in Step 3 and evaluate your progress regularly. Evaluate which parts of your plan are working well and which ones need tweaking. Then rewrite your goals and plan accordingly.

If you consistently achieve a particular goal, add a new goal to help you continue your pathway to success. Reward yourself for your successes!

Use non-food rewards, such as a bouquet of fresh flowers, a sports outing with friends, or a relaxing bath. Rewards help keep you motivated on the path to better health. Treatment for overweight and obesity Common treatments for overweight and obesity include losing weight through healthy eating, being more physically active, and making other changes to your usual habits.

Choosing a safe and successful weight-loss program Tips on how to choose a program that may help you lose weight safely and keep it off over time. Prescription medications to treat overweight and obesity If lifestyle changes do not help you lose weight or maintain your weight loss, your health care professional may prescribe medications as part of your weight-control program.

Bariatric surgery Weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, is an operation that makes changes to the digestive system. Body Image Creating a positive body image through healthy eating habits. Strategies for Success Find resources to help you lose or gain weight safely and effectively.

Weight Management for Youth Address weight issues in children and teens with healthy guidelines, links to interactive and skill-building tools, and more. What you should know about popular diets Learn how to evaluate claims made by weight loss products and diets.

Find information to choose weight loss strategies that are healthy, effective, and safe for you. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to search. Español Other Languages. Losing Weight. Español Spanish. Minus Related Pages. Getting Started Losing weight takes a well-thought-out plan. Step 1: Make a commitment Whether you have a family history of heart disease, want to see your kids get married, or want to feel better in your clothes, write down why you want to lose weight.

Step 2: Take stock of where you are Write down everything you eat and drink for a few days in a food and beverage diary.

On This Page. Step 1: Make a commitment Step 2: Take stock of where you are Step 3: Set realistic goals Step 4: Identify resources for information and support Step 5: Continually monitor your progress. Step 3: Set realistic goals. Focus on two or three goals at a time.

Even Modest Weight Loss Helps. Step 4: Identify resources for information and support. For More Information. Connect with Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.

Last Reviewed: June 15, Source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity , National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. home Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity. To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address.

Email Address. What's this? Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Related Topics.