The Right Way To Lose Weight

If your best efforts at losing weight aren’t panning out, you’re far from alone.

One poll discussed in Psychology Today suggests that, on average, people try 126 fad diets in their lives. And each attempt averaged just six days.

You can’t blame people for not keeping it up. A lot of those diets touted by celebrities and endorsed on social media encourage cutting out whole food groups, eating inordinate amounts of specific foods or severely cutting back on foods to the point of near starvation.

You just can’t keep up that kind of lifestyle. And your body deserves to be treated better than that.

So, how do you do it? How do you lose weight and keep it off?

We talked with registered dietitian, exercise physiologist and psychologist David Creel, PhD, about how to lose weight the right way.

The truth about weight loss

Carrying excess weight isn’t ideal for your health. Obesity is connected to a host of health conditions that can severely affect your well-being. That includes:

So, losing weight and achieving a healthy body mass index (BMI) can be a noble goal for people who are at risk for these conditions and others.

But there’s a lot of advice out there about how to lose weight. (A whole heck of a lot, really.)

Here’s the simple truth: For weight loss to be successful, you need to develop healthy habits that you can live with and be happy with for the long-term.

Because losing weight and keeping it off is a commitment. It will take time. You’ll have bumps in the road. And that’s OK.

“Losing weight isn’t a linear experience. You’ll have ups and downs. But if the overall trend is downward, that’s when you know you’re having success,” Dr. Creel shares. “That’s why we have to think about how to lose weight as a lifestyle.”

In a nutshell, healthy, successful weight loss goes something like this:

1. Set reasonable goals.
2. Expend more calories than you take in.
3. Eat nutritious foods that give your body all the nutrients it needs, with less of the stuff it doesn’t.
4. Get your heart pumping with aerobic exercise.
5. Maintain or build muscle to help your body burn calories at rest.
6. Explore the ways emotions affect your eating and physical activity.
7. Get enough sleep to allow your body to function at its best.
8. Expect that you’ll need to make adjustments.

Dr. Creel walks us through each of these steps so you can create a weight-loss plan that’ll work for you.

1. Set weight loss goals

Although losing weight can be exciting and encouraging, Dr. Creel suggests staying focused on actions more than outcomes.

Setting reasonable and manageable lifestyle goals means paying attention to what we have the most control over — our behaviors. You may hear it referred to as a SMART goal — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to the things that are most important to you and time-bound.

You might set goals to walk 30 minutes five times per week, include vegetables with dinner and stop eating after 7 p.m. Concentrate on the areas that will impact your health and weight the most.

“It can depend on your starting weight and your lifestyle, but these modest changes often lead to one to two pounds of weight loss per week,” Dr. Creel notes. “Weight loss is likely to taper off over time, but if you pay attention to the non-scale victories — like better sleep, more energy and improved fitness — you’re less likely to get discouraged.”

2. Understand how weight loss works

Weight loss is, at its core, a matter of burning more calories than you take in.

“We’re all unique beings, and our bodies have different needs,” Dr. Creel points out. “But at the end of the day, the most basic concept of losing weight is that you need to achieve a calorie deficit.”

Here’s what that means.

Our bodies use calories from the foods we eat to power our systems, giving us energy to do everything from running a marathon to digesting our food and pumping our hearts.

When you take in excess calories, your body stores them as fat.

But when you eat fewer calories than you use, your body starts to take energy from your stores. That’s a calorie deficit. That’s when you start to lose weight.

Take in way too few calories, and you’re at risk for undernutrition and a host of health concerns.

So, losing weight is a balancing act. A Goldilocks scenario of taking in and putting out not too much and not too little, but juuuuuust right. And it’s different for everyone.

Get the right number of calories

We each have different calorie needs. So, what may suffice as a filling diet for one person may be too much, or not enough, for someone else.

The right number of calories for you can depend on a host of factors, including:

• Your current weight.
• Your goal weight.
• Your height.
• Your age.
• Your muscle mass.
• How physically active you are.

How do you know that you’re getting the right number of calories for weight loss?

Dr. Creel offers up a rough idea of what may be healthy for some people. “When we know how many calories you’re burning, we might suggest getting about 500 calories a day fewer than that. That will typically yield about a pound of weight loss per week. But really, it should be a more individualized approach.”

A visit to a healthcare provider, like a registered dietitian, is going to be your best bet to determine how many calories you should be taking in when you try to lose weight.

If you’re looking for a more down-and-dirty DIY estimate of your calorie needs, The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) MyPlate Plan or the NIH body weight planner can suggest how many calories would be appropriate for you to maintain your weight or lose weight.

Examples from the MyPlate calculator:

Some smartwatches and wearable fitness trackers can also tell you how many calories you burn, both through exercise and your regular biological processes. That can give you a good starting point to know what you need to maintain or lose weight. Subtract about 500 calories a day from that number to give you an estimate of how many calories per day you should take in.

When you know how many calories to aim for, it can help to keep a food journal, either on paper or in an app. That can help you keep track of when you’re eating and when. And it will give you a good idea of the health benefits of the foods you’re eating.

3. Follow a manageable weight-loss diet

The backbone of a healthy diet for weight loss is to eat more natural foods and fewer processed foods.

That’s the basic tenet of the Mediterranean diet — largely considered to be the healthiest eating pattern around. It stresses eating:

Hitting the right number of calories isn’t enough. The quality of those calories is also important.

Think of it like this: A can of soda has about 150 calories. An apple has about 95 calories. A difference of just 55 calories.

But the calories in an apple come with nutrients that you don’t find in soda. Like fiber and antioxidants. What’s more, the apple will fill your belly and satisfy your hunger in a way that soda can’t.

“You can have a soda and a refill (300 calories) and still eat a full meal,” Dr. Creel illustrates. “But if you were to drink water and have three apples (285 calories) with your meal, you’re going to consume way fewer calories overall because those apples will be much more filling.”

In short, natural and less-processed foods fill your body with what it needs — without the stuff it doesn’t.

Some people swear cutting out carbs can help aid weight loss (the keto diet). Others will tell you carbs are fine in moderation. Both can be true — though a no-carb diet can be tough to keep up long term.

Although people can lose weight with lower-fat or lower-carb eating, Dr. Creel says that the types of carbs and fat are most important. Healthy fats tend to come from plants, nuts and seeds rather than animals. And healthier carbohydrates are less processed.

In broad strokes, try these swaps to get started with cleaning up your diet:

Remember, weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Depriving yourself of your favorite foods and labeling them as “off limits” is a recipe for discouragement, backsliding and guilt.

Rather than vowing never to eat another slice of cake or have a soda, work them in sparingly. And remind yourself that an occasional treat is OK. It’s not a reflection of your willpower or your worth as a person.

4. Get cardio exercise

Remember, losing weight comes down to expending more calories than you’re taking in. And exercise is an important factor in burning those extra calories.

The American Heart Association recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise each week. That’s the kind of exercise that gets your heart pumping and makes you breathe faster than usual.

Although people lose weight in a variety of ways, those who keep it off tend to exercise regularly, Dr. Creel explains.

“I’ll typically advise people who are looking to lose weight to ratchet up their workouts to something more like 250 to 300 minutes per week — or an hour-long workout four to five days per week,” he says. “But there are no hard-and-fast rules that are right for everyone. If you have a very active lifestyle, like a physically taxing job, you probably can get by with less. If you have a desk job, you may need more.”

Now, chances are you’re not going to go from limited amounts of exercise to hitting the gym for an hour five days a week immediately. Your body isn’t ready for that. And your life isn’t set up to accommodate that major of a shift. So, ease into it.

“This is about making a lifestyle change — not trying something for a bit and burning out. So, start slowly and build up,” he encourages. “Find activities that you enjoy and that fit into your life on a regular basis.”

Try these aerobic workouts to get your heart pumping:

• Walking, hiking and slow running.
• Swimming.
• Cycling.
• Cardio machines, like treadmills, ellipticals and steppers.

How do you know if your exercise is too intense? Or too cozy?

Try talking when you’re exercising. If you need to pause your conversation here and there to catch your breath, that’s moderate-intensity exercise. You’re right on track.

If you can carry on a conversation easily, it’s time to push a little harder. If you’re gasping for air, ease up.

5. Maintain or build muscle

Muscle is imperative for losing weight. That’s because muscle works to burn more calories, even when you’re not doing much of anything. So, when you build muscle, you’re making your body composition work in your favor.

“Muscle is metabolically active. Your muscle burns through calories much faster, even if you’re just sitting on the couch,” Dr. Creel explains. “The more muscle mass you have, the quicker you burn calories.”

What’s more, when you work to lose weight, what you really want to lose is fat, not muscle.

There are two important elements to maintaining muscle mass as you lose weight:

1.) Eat plenty of lean protein. Healthy sources of protein help to build and repair muscle. So, protein is a critical component of healthy weight-loss eating. How much protein you need depends on a variety of factors. But most people will be well served to make protein count for around 25% to 30% of the calories they eat each day. On a 1,600-calorie diet, that would equal 100 to 120 grams of protein per day.

2.) Engage in strength-training exercise. That can be activities like yoga, Pilates, barbells, free weights or calisthenics, all of which help to tone and strengthen muscle. Aim for at least 20 minutes of strength-training exercise twice per week.

“Strength training doesn’t usually burn as many calories as cardiovascular exercise. But the benefits of maintaining muscle are of utmost importance,” Dr. Creel clarifies. “And if cardio exercise is hard for you, strength training is sometimes an easier gateway into physical activity.”

6. Check in with your emotional well-being

Emotional eating is real. It’s a natural coping mechanism for some people to turn to food when they’re feeling stressed, bored, frustrated or any number of emotions.

Here’s why: Strong emotions, like stress, release the hormone cortisol. And cortisol can heighten our cravings for sugar, fat and salt. It’s a biological response that’s trying to protect you by fueling your body to prepare to fight off tigers or other threats to your life.

But for most of the stresses we feel in our modern lives, downing a pint of ice cream isn’t going to solve the problem. We may know that intellectually … but your body reacts the same way regardless.

What can you do when you feel that pang to reach for food — not for hunger, but strictly for comfort? Step away from the fridge and try some quick relaxation strategies:

• Take a walk.
• Do some breathing exercises.
• Try some meditation.

Food journaling can also help you understand patterns in your emotional state and how they relate to eating.

“I like to encourage people to keep track not just of what they’re eating, but also how they’re feeling at mealtimes or when they reach for that snack,” Dr. Creel recommends. “That can help you to see patterns and gauge whether you’re eating because you’re hungry or if you’re turning to food for comfort.”

7. Sleep well

While they may not seem related, sleep and weight loss go hand in hand.

“If we aren’t getting good rest, your hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) can get out of whack. You actually feel hungrier when you’re not well-rested,” Dr. Creel shares.

Aim to get enough sleep (between seven and nine hours a night for most adults). And keep to a regular sleep schedule.

8. Expect to change course

Often, you can see results from your weight loss efforts quickly. Then, it stalls. And you wonder if your scale is working. You might even question whether it’s worth it to keep it up.

That’s all part of the process.

It’s easy to get discouraged if the number on the scale doesn’t reflect your hard work. And sometimes, it won’t. Weight doesn’t always reflect the effort you put in.

It can be tempting to lose hope. To throw in the towel and head to the nearest drive-thru.

Resist the temptation. Chances are you’re doing great.

There are a few reasons you’re not seeing the results you expect.

For starters, weighing yourself between daily and weekly is important for you to understand how your efforts are working. But rather than focus on the day-to-day numbers, which can be emotionally charged, focus on trends.

Has it been a week since you lost a pound? That’s nothing. Has it been a month? That might be a sign that your weight loss has hit a wall. But there’s hope.

Weight loss plateaus are all part of the process. A crummy part to be sure. But still normal.

“We call it metabolic adaptation. It’s your body trying to hold on to weight by slowing down your metabolism,” Dr. Creel explains. “We know it’s healthy for us to lose excess weight, but your body doesn’t. It’s trying to protect you.”

It can be hard to push through. But the best response to hitting a plateau is to increase your efforts. Add in some additional exercise. Recalculate your calorie needs. (Chances are they’ve changed because of the weight you’ve already lost.) Be patient. Don’t give up.

And talk with a weight loss specialist or registered dietitian. They can help you find interventions that could make a big difference. That may include things like new diet or exercise strategies.

Or they may recommend anti-obesity medications or bariatric surgery in addition to a healthy diet and exercise program. Those strategies can help overcome your body’s natural instincts to defend against weight loss.

Bottom line?

Losing weight isn’t rocket science. But that doesn’t mean it’s simple. Humans are complex creatures. What we eat, how much we move and the inner workings of our minds all contribute to how we gain and lose weight.

Trust the process. And don’t hesitate to ask for help. Your health is worth it.