Are you trying to lose weight? What if I told you that you can lose weight in a way that was healthy and was easy to maintain throughout your life?
 
When it comes to weight loss, I don’t believe in harmful deprivation diets, water pills, harsh chemicals and other quick-fix gimmicks that provide temporary weight loss but can harm your body and your health.
 
I believe in healthy weight loss that is supported by a number of simple, lifestyle changes that not only help you lose weight, but can support weight loss safely and healthily throughout your lifetime.
 

Diet Is A Four Letter Word

 
I believe that “diet” is one of those four-letter words with negative connotations. Following one of those diet club menus that offer ready-made prepackaged foods or fad diets like the “grapefruit diet,” “cookie diet,” or “all protein diet” is destined to fail because these diets are not really based on reality and what is healthy long term. They provide a quick-fix weight loss, but after you go off of the diet you usually gain the weight back or even more weight than before you started on the diet.
 
Deprivation and starvation diets put your body in feast and famine mode which slows down your metabolism and digestive system. By starving yourself, your body goes into survival mode and starts storing fat.
 

Fill Up On Healthy Foods

 
Instead of dieting, the key to healthy weight loss is to enjoy healthy foods: lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, beans and whole grains. Forget about depriving yourself, filling up on healthy, good-for-you foods allows your body to be satisfied because it is getting the nutrients it needs. Healthy foods (like lots of fruits and vegetables) fill you up but won’t fill you out—plus, you are getting more nutritional bang for your buck.
 
In addition to eating healthy foods, there are also some foods you’ll want to avoid; specifically foods that are overly processed, high in fat, high in sugar (or contain artificial sweeteners), as well as fried foods, alcohol and foods labeled “fat free.”
 

Try 5 A Day

 
I also recommend eating 5 small meals throughout the day. Eating more often helps stabilize your blood sugar and helps prevent binging and overeating because you are less hungry between meals. By eating this way you also teach your body to want less food at meal times since you are eating smaller portions.
 
Smaller meals don’t place a burden on your digestive system like overeating does, and overeating is something you want to avoid at all costs. When you overeat, your metabolism slows down and causes weight gain.
 

Don’t Forget To Exercise

 
Exercise is one of the most important components of healthy weight loss. Exercise helps boost your metabolism, burn calories, remove toxins from your system and gives you more energy. Exercise also helps increase muscle which burns fat.
 
So get out there and walk, run, swim, bike or participate in any other type of activity that you enjoy. The more you enjoy it, the more you’ll stick with it.
Even a little bit of exercise a day can help. If you can’t fit in 20 minutes a day, break your workout into 10 minute intervals for as many days as you can. Build up your routine as you go along when you feel comfortable doing so.
 

You Can Do It

 
A healthy diet and regular exercise provide a long-term solution for healthy weight loss. They’re simple changes that you can make part of a healthy lifestyle you can easily sustain throughout your life.