Diet and exercise combined are king, together they represent the quickest way to lose weight. That means taking in fewer calories than you burn. There’s no need to starve, and in fact periods of starvation such as missing 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. Like so many other things slow and steady wins the race. In the long run a smart every day diet combined with good exercise is 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 regular eating habits.  Diet means the everyday, day after day, 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.

If it sounds like a daunting task consider that you likely already eat the foods necessary, just in too large quantities. For many people it’s a simple matter of cutting down portion sizes to move from bad eating to good eating. Even the chocolate cake or cookies can fit into a well balanced diet, if eaten in small quantities. The three bad white foods – white bread, white rice, and sugar – can easily be replaced in your diet. Eating whole grain bread instead of white bread, brown rice instead of white rice, and fruits instead of sugary foods are healthy changes that don’t require eating much less.

The key of the quickest way to lose weight and maintaining a healthy diet is planning. A good diet plan includes preparing for special occasions as well as for meals at home.  Eating at restaurants and friends’ homes doesn’t mean breaking good eating habits.  Ask some questions. Don’t let a failure bother you.  Sometimes you’ll eat the wrong things.  But when you get bucked off get right back on.  Get back to the diet.

As for exercise do 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 taking stairs instead of the elevator.

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