There are so many diets, supplements, and conflicting advice out there that it can be hard to lose weight. But to lose weight in a way that lasts, you need to know a few basic rules that are based on science and have been shown to work in the real world.
1. The basis is calories in and calories out.
Energy balance is the most important thing to know about losing weight. You need to eat fewer calories than your body burns to lose weight. A caloric deficit is the key to all successful weight loss, no matter what diet or method you choose.
Your basal metabolic rate (the energy your body needs to do basic functions), physical activity, and the thermic effect of food (the energy your body uses to digest and process what you eat) are the three main ways that your body burns calories. When you eat fewer calories than you burn on a regular basis, your body uses stored fat for energy, which makes you lose weight.
The amount of calories you eat is what really matters when it comes to losing, maintaining, or gaining weight. The quality of the calories also matters for your health and fullness. This doesn’t mean you should only eat 1,200 calories of junk food. It means that even the healthiest foods can make you gain weight if you eat too much of them.
2. It Takes Time to Lose Weight in a Healthy Way
One of the biggest myths about losing weight is that doing it faster is always better. In fact, losing weight quickly can cause muscle loss, nutritional deficiencies, a slower metabolism, and a greater chance of gaining the weight back.
A safe and long-term rate of weight loss is usually 1 to 2 pounds per week, which means you need to eat 500 to 1,000 fewer calories each day. This may seem slow compared to the big changes you see in the news, but this method lets your body adjust slowly while keeping your lean muscle mass and metabolic rate.
Studies show that people who lose weight slowly are more likely to keep it off for a long time. Quick fixes and extreme diets may work right away, but they don’t usually teach you the habits you need to keep up with your success. Don’t think of losing weight as a sprint; think of it as a marathon.
3. Keeping your muscles is very important
A lot of people only care about the number on the scale, but body composition, or the ratio of muscle to fat in your body, is more important. When you want to lose weight, you want to lose fat and keep as much muscle as you can.
Muscle tissue is active in the body, which means it burns calories even when you are not moving. Having more muscle raises your metabolism, which makes it easier to keep the weight off over time. Muscle also gives your body shape and strength, which helps you reach both functional and aesthetic fitness goals.
Include resistance training in your routine at least 2–3 times a week and make sure you get enough protein to keep your muscles while losing weight. Every day, you should eat 0.7 to 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. This mix of strength training and getting enough protein tells your body that muscle tissue is important and shouldn’t be broken down for energy.
4. Your surroundings affect how well you do.
Your environment has a huge impact on how well you lose weight, not just your willpower. The foods you have at home, the restaurants you go to, the people you hang out with, and even the size of your plates can all affect how you eat and how much weight you lose.
Making your surroundings support your goals makes it easier and more automatic to make healthy choices. This might involve clearing processed snacks from your pantry, keeping pre-cut vegetables visible in your refrigerator, finding restaurants with healthy options, or surrounding yourself with people who support your lifestyle changes.
Even small changes to the environment can have big effects. Research indicates that individuals consume greater quantities when food is readily accessible and visible, whereas they reduce intake when healthier alternatives are more convenient. You don’t have to rely on willpower alone as much if you carefully plan your surroundings.
5. Being consistent is better than being perfect.
One of the most freeing things about losing weight is that you don’t have to be perfect to do it. In fact, trying to be perfect often backfires, causing you to think in all-or-nothing terms, which can completely stop your progress.
To lose weight successfully, you don’t have to be perfect all the time. You just have to be consistent most of the time. This means having plans for holidays, parties, busy times, and problems that come up out of the blue. It means not seeing mistakes as failures that need to be fixed by starting over.
Instead of doing things that are very hard to keep up with, work on making habits that you can keep up with 80% of the time. This could mean being more organized during the week and letting yourself be more flexible on the weekends, or it could mean finding ways to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation instead of getting rid of them completely.
Going Forward
Losing weight is a process that takes time, consistency, and a focus on long-term habits instead of quick fixes. These five basic rules will help you cut through the noise of fad diets and conflicting advice so you can focus on what really matters.
Keep in mind that everyone’s path is different, and what works for one person might not work for another in the same way. The most important thing is to find a way to do things that fits with these ideas and works with your lifestyle, preferences, and situation. Not only is it possible to lose weight in a healthy way, but it is also going to happen.
