Quick weight loss is a sham. We know what you’re thinking; you’ve seen infomercials where people have lost hundreds of pounds in six weeks without changing their diets or exercising. Those people are lying to you. Either that or their diets are unhealthy because our bodies aren’t meant to change that face. If you want to lose weight and keep it off you have to take in less calories than you burn while maintaining healthy eating habits. Here’s how.

The first step you need to take in order to know how to go about trying to lose weight is finding out how many calories you burn on a day to day basis. Do a web search for a calorie calculator in order to find this number. It should ask you about your sex, how tall you are, and your current weight as well as how active you are. This is information you will need to get the base number of what you expend. Even your job can come into play when it comes to calories.

Knowing how much you burn in by calories is unbelievably important. Based on that number you can now find out if you are taking in more than you are burning. For a week or so take note of all the calories you eat. Write them down and average them out. Are you eating more than you are burning? That’s how fat is made.

It’s not safe to simply cut large amounts of calories out of your diet and call it a day. Without a certain amount your body won’t be able to function and you will probably get sick. At the very least you’ll be very sleepy. It’s better to incorporate daily exercise.

Fat burning exercises are different than other kinds. For muscle increasing exercises you would have to engage a certain kind of muscle and flex it repeatedly. For cardio exercises you have to keep your heart rate up so high. For fat burning exercises the main point is simply to move. Any kind of movement burns calories, from walking in place to whirling your arms around like a chicken for forty-five minutes. As long as you’re moving you’re pretty much helping your body to burn fat.

We know that the stereotypical food for someone trying to lose weight is salad. That alone can put you off to it almost immediately but give it a chance! Salad can be a wonderful addition to your weight loss effort. It’s filling, can be done dozens of ways, and it’s easy to mask some of the healthier foods you don’t like within one. Stay away from those creamier dressings and you can’t go wrong with a salad as long as it’s not smothered in gravy.

Watching what you eat may not be enough. In fact, you might not even be getting most of your dump calories from food. Instead take a look at what you’ve been drinking lately. Did you read the back of that soda can before you tossed two of them back at dinner? No? Well, you’re in for a shocker. Soda and some juices are empty calories. They do absolutely nothing but make you feel and look awful. Instead try drinking this magical liquid we like to call water. It does so many things for your body there’s no reason not to! Green tea is good as well.