Top Ten Ways to Lose Weight

We all want to look and feel our best. Feeling good means feeling confident, outgoing and happy.

Losing weight can be a frustrating process. We can get frustrated at not seeing results, cranky, or downright hopeless. But it doesn't have to be that way! People look for personal trainers, crash diets and cosmetic procedures, when all they need to do is eat right and exercise.

The Basics:

One pound of fat is 3,500 calories. That means that if you cut back 500 calories a day from you weekly food menu, you would lose one pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). If you burned an extra 500 calories through physical activity (walking, biking, swimming etc.) you would lose 2 pounds a week!

It's a simple process that takes a combination of patience and consistency. If you follow these 10 rules, you will be losing those extra pounds in no time.

For optimal weight loss aim for 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 2 snacks a day. Organizing your meals is going to help you stop snacking throughout the day or skipping meals and compensating later by overeating.

Make your 3 meals a special occasion:

Organize the table nicely, set daily meal time hours, and always try to have our meals with friends and family. Eating alone will probably make you eat more. And who wants to eat by themselves when they can make mealtimes a social gathering with loved ones.

Remember to eat your breakfast! Studies show that people who skip breakfast tend to more than make up for their missed meal later in the day.

Example Menu Times:

7:30 breakfast

10:30 snack

1:30 lunch

4:00 snack

6:30 dinner

Check out this hilarious skit from mad tv about losing weight.

Its true! People don't have to go on crazy diets, only eat right and workout.

In order to be successful with losing weight you need to move more. A common misconception with exercise is that it’s supposed to be hard and painful. Its not! Exercise is anything that gets our heart rate up. That means walking the dog, playing with the kids, going up the stairs and cleaning.

Exercise doesn’t even have to be done all at once: Yes, you should aim for about an hour a day of physical activity, but who says you need to be doing it in one session. You can divide up your physical activity throughout the day to get your one hour.

Exercise is usually done best in the morning: We all have busy schedules. Where are we supposed to fit in exercise along with family, careers, and commitments?

The morning.

If you wake up just 30 minutes early and go for a brisk morning walk you'll not only feel more energized and happy throughout the whole day but you also won't have to try to cram your sweating sessions later on.

Different exercises burn different amounts of calories depending on their difficulty (take a look at the list on top).

Or check out this calorie burning calculator: (you can figure out exactly how many calories you burn for you gender, weight, and height for different activities).

An introduction to the world of running: motivation, races, diet, training plans, gear, and much much more.

It's no secret that water is an effective weight loss tool, and the more you drink the more weight you loose. Drinking a glass of water whenever you feel hungry help take the edge off "food cravings", which often are actually cravings for fluid, says George Blackburn, M.D, PhD. chief of the Nutrition/ Metabolism Laboratory at the New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. A glass before dining also helps you eat less.

Opt for 6-8 glasses of water a day.

Although many commercial diets call for 1,000 calories a day or less, experts say normal-weight women need at least 1,200 calories for long-term dieting success and normal-weight men need about 1,500. Those calories are critical for good health.

In other words don't eat less that 1,200 calories because (and you've probably experienced this), crash dieting results in gaining it all back.

Hunger pans do pass. The latest research shows that dips in blood sugar that coincide with hunger return to normal after 10 to 15 minutes. So don't give in at the first craving; take a 10 minute walk until it wanes.

Admittedly some nonfat cheeses, salad dressings, and deserts are thin on flavor. But new and improved versions come out every day and many are amazingly rich in taste. So keep experimenting. The fat calories you save can be pounds off your frame.

Not only is alcohol packed with empty calories, but studies show that drinking alcohol also causes the body to store more calories as fat, and that drinkers have more abdominal fat, which is the unhealthiest kind.

They don't call it a beer belly for nothing.

Don't sit when you can stand, don't stand when you can walk. The advantage can be calculated in calories burned: 60 calories per hour for lying quietly, 75 calories per hour for sitting quietly, and 85 calories per hours for standing quietly. A slow walk burns about 165 calories an hour.

Keep a journal of your daily food choices and exercises. Studies show that those who keep a documentation of their daily caloric intake are more likely to be successful in their weight goals. Remember, don't be a perfectionist or be embarrassed to write down food on bad days. Those count too. You will only learn from your entries as time goes by.

Use these professional food diaries for optimal success on your diet.

That is, be supportive of your efforts and forgiving of your mistakes. The next time you hear yourself using words like "stupid", "bad", or "cheat", take a minute to change them to positive ones. Instead of telling yourself, "I was bad to have that piece of cake", say "I did eat that cake, and I will be more careful at my next meal."

Your attitude can make or break your weight loss success. You can do it!