The quickest way to lose weight is through diet and exercise, end of story. How do you burn more calories than you take in?

There’s no need to starve, and in fact periods of starvation such as skipping a meal could lead to more weight gain when the body enters “starvation” mode, not to mention starving yourself could cause serious damage to your body. Patience is a virtue when trying to lose weight, as with many endeavors.

Combining a healthy diet with exercise is a long term plan for the quickest way to lose weight. That’s without the yo-yo effect of many fad diets.

Diet doesn’t mean a diet, a short term alteration of normal eating habits. Diet means the everyday, day in and day out, for all the days of your life way that you eat. A good diet includes foods from each of the food groups, taken in moderation and the right amounts.

And with a well balanced diet it’s easy to adjust calories down when you need to lose a few pounds temporarily.

Sounds like a big change, huh? It doesn’t have to be. You may already eat most of the foods needed for a well balanced diet, just not in the right portions.

Cut down quantities, replace starches with whole grains, and you can still even eat cake while losing weight .

The key to maintaining a healthy diet is planning. When you fail to plan you skip meals, that leads to binge eating. When you fail to plan you often end up at the mercy of a fast food restaurant or a friend whose food leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to healthy foods.

Plan meals in advance, including for occasions like parties and social gatherings. It only takes a few questions to find out what’s being served and plan the days other meals accordingly to not eat too much. Part of the plan is understanding that sometimes the plan will fail.

Don’t let a failure discourage you. One cheated meal doesn’t mean the whole diet, remember it’s an every day for the rest of your life diet not just a few days diet, has failed.

As for exercise perform 30 minutes of aerobic exercise seven days a week. That’s the goal, don’t worry if you miss a day here or there. Add extra activity such as parking further from the store or office for a little walk, or climbing stairs instead of the elevator.

Combine the healthy every day diet with exercise for the quickest way to lose weight.

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