4 Surefire Tips to help you lose weight

Research has proven that if we've a single objective as our goal, and if we direct all our energies and resources towards the achievement of that objective, we can't but win the goal. It is really true, and when it comes to weight loss, it is no different either! The very first thing you need to do is to make your weight loss goal your priority, and then enlist all the available resources and time towards achieving it. That is the only way you can lose weight.

I am not telling you to neglect things that are more important than weight loss, but I am pretty sure that the number of such 'very important things' is fewer than what you think, and I am also sure that you can, if you want, accommodate your weight loss program in this short list of 'very important things'.

You see, nothing is more important than your health. If your health goes for a downhill, everything else that you set as 'important tasks' will have to stop. Now, how does this relate to weight loss? Well, you might not be aware of the fact that obesity is the forerunner of several harmful diseases such as diabetes, heart related diseases, hypertension, etc. Therefore, the main reason why you should lose weight is not just to look and feel good, but to make sure you live a healthy and long life. There are some ways you can ensure that you always find time for your weight loss program:

1. Schedule your exercise: Most of the people who don't find time for their exercises are the ones who never really set any time for it. You see, unless you schedule a specific time for a task, you will never find time for it, and exercise is not anything different. Set at least half-an-hour per day for doing some kind of workouts. This doesn't mean that you will have to hit the gym everyday. For most people, hitting the gym is a far-fetched dream. If you are one of them, then try to do workouts at home. You can even exercise while watching your favorite TV program.

Another important thing to understand is that you should make your workout sessions fun-filled and interesting. Don't do the exercises that you don't want to do, otherwise you will soon feel bored and tired. Make a list of your favorite exercises, and then mix and match them and start your workout session. You don't need to exercise everyday. If you exercise just five days a week, you are good to go!

Most people never use the weekends for anything, other than watching their favorite movies. Why not use this time more productively by doing some jogging and aerobics? You see, if you exercise during the weekends, you will need to exercise for only three more days, so that you can take the two other days off!

2. Plan your Grocery: When we are on a diet, temptations are always around the corner, especially if there is nothing except junk food in the house. Therefore make sure you shop for the healthy foods from your local grocery store and keep a ready stock of fresh fruits and vegetables at your home, otherwise you will end up munching on junk foods which will make you fatter.

3. Resolve to be better next time: We are not perfect, and therefore we would not be able to follow a diet plan perfectly. Slip-ups will happen; sometimes you will break your resolutions, cheat and try to binge on the 'forbidden foods'. When this happens, stop ruing and get over it, and make a resolution not to do it next day. Do so every time you catch yourself cheating or breaking a weight loss resolution, and you will see that over time your diet will no longer seem to be a challenge for you!

4. Consistency is the key: The big difference between the people who lose weight successfully and those who don't is that of consistency. There are people who follow a particular weight loss program or diet plan and stick to it throughput their lifetime; those are the people who actually lose weight. People who run after one fad diet or another are never successful in their endeavors. Once you get a successful weight loss plan, stick to it while making adjustments along the way. Remember that a rolling stone gathers no moss!

How to choose a weight loss plan

Good weight loss plans are built on practical thinking. Before you create a weight loss plan, you need to decide why is it that you want to lose weight at all! Next you will need to decide what you expect to have from your weight loss program, and how you will approach it. There are many other tidbits that goes into the making a successful weight loss plan. In this article I will tell you everything about how to create a weight loss plan the 'easy' way!

1. Okay, first of all, ask yourself why you want to lose weight. There are many reasons why people want to lose weight. Some people would want to lose weight so that can fit into their old trousers or jeans; others do it to look and feel good; some others do it because they have heard about a lot of health issues associated with obesity. What about you? This is the first step towards the creation of a successful weight loss goal. Once you know why you want to achieve a goal, success becomes easier!

2. Create the goal: Now it is time for you to create the weight loss goal itself. Decide how much weight you want to lose each day! Do you want to shed sixty pounds in a month? Is that viable? Don't make unrealistic goals because you will never be able to achieve them. If in doubt, consult your friends and try to know about realistic weight loss goals.

3. Once you have created a goal, it is time to create a workable plan through which you intend to achieve your goal. If need be, don't hesitate to consult your doctor on this matter; even better, ask him to create the plan for you! How you want to achieve your goal is what your weight loss plan is all about. Below I give you three pointers that will help you here:

Pointer one - Losing weight by eating less: It is easier said than done, but if you have decided to lose weight this way, it is not impossible either! Decide on what you will need to achieve this end. For example, you will need appetite suppressants that will save you from hunger pangs resulting from reduction in food intake.

Pointer two Losing weight by eating healthier foods: Replacing the fatty foods with their low-calorie counterparts is the surefire way to lose weight. If you eat snacks every evening, why not replace it with fruits and vegetables? If you drink a large bowl of chocolate soup every night, it is time to stop that practice and eat carrots and other vegetables instead! These healthy substitutes would help you reach your weight loss goals faster!

Pointer three - Losing weight by exercises: While exercises entail a lot of hard work, it is actually easier to lose weight by doing exercise if you are disciplined enough! Exercise actually has a dual function: on one hand it helps you lose weight by burning your body fat; on the other, it helps you build muscles so that you can burn fat even when you are resting (because muscles increase a person's metabolic rate considerably).

Choose workouts that you can do at home, in front of your TV. Don't be too hard on yourself - start by doing exercises for one hour each day, and do your workouts every other day. It is stupid to think that you can workout everyday; you will pretty much get tired by your workout sessions that way! Give yourself a break, and you will see that exercises are not as hard as you used to think!

Visit your local library and browse books, manuals and CD-ROMs on different types of exercises. Listen to audio tapes. Consult with your doctor as well as a professional fitness trainer. This would help you in creating a solid exercise plan!

4. Imagine the plan: Now that you have created the weight loss plan, imagine how you vision yourself reaching your weight loss goal using the plan you have just created!

Lynn the writer featured on CNN

Lynn finally accepted her weight back in 2005 and decided to make the changes needed to lose weight and become healthy, look at the before and after in the picture to the left.

In the end Lynn lost 168 pounds and has kept it off in maintenance for over a year.

I'm often asked how I got started on my weight loss journey. I wish I had a simple, perky answer, but the truth is, I had a lot of internal housecleaning to do first.

Lynn Bering eats a mostly vegetarian diet and exercises five days a week to maintain her 168-pound weight loss.

I had so many feelings floating around in my head when I weighed 300 pounds -- inadequacy, anger, and overall helplessness. I vacillated for months between accepting my body as it was and choosing to lose weight. I journaled tough questions: How did I feel about my body? How much did I love myself? Was I worth changing for? It was difficult and often uncomfortable work, I won't lie, but once I was honest with myself and became better acquainted with the emotions that bothered me most, I was ready to lose weight.

Working through those issues, or at least confronting them, left me better prepared for the "tough love" it took to discipline that weak voice inside that said, "This is hard. I want chocolate (or fries or animal crackers or any other simple carb you can imagine). Feed me." I learned to say no to myself and I committed to learning new behaviors that helped me change "I can't" to "I will."

I still write down everything I eat. I still ask myself, "How will I feel five minutes after I eat this?" If the answer is anything other than, "I will feel good having made this food choice," then I don't eat it. Or at least most of the time I don't. Sometimes that whiny voice wins. But the point is, I think about it. Am I eating because I want to or because I need to? Am I feeding some emotion I'm afraid to examine?

I can't sugar-coat the truth. I can't even use Splenda to make it easier. Losing weight means changing everything -- how you think about food and how you think about yourself. But if you don't take shortcuts and you find your inner strength (and we all have that within ourselves), you'll be rewarded with not only more energy and better health, you'll be your own best friend.

Bering tracks her progress, fitness regimens and the pitfalls of losing weight on her blog, Lynn's Weight Loss Journey.