Simple tips on how to lose weight

Everyone wants to shed those extra pounds. Payal Banka of Lifemojo.com tells you just how you can do that

Just about everyone in the world, at sometime or other, are looking to find the best weight loss options to help them lose that extra dress size or that flabby beer belly.

In an effort to find ways for shedding a few pounds within a minimum time possible effort, people either starve or opt for very strenuous physical exercises to achieve the goal of weight loss. They harass their exercise trainers to make them lose weight.

They take up exercises to lose weight but promptly give up if they do not see the needle move! The problem with most people is that they dwell in either of the two extremes; all or nothing.

Either they workout and diet like crazy, or they chuck the whole thing and go back to their old ways.

To begin with, there are two basic components to lose weight: diet and exercise. You can't take any shortcuts here; you can't do one without the other. But each component works differently for the two sexes.

For women needing to lose more than 15kg weight it is advisable to first eat the right diet for weight loss according to your constitution (vata, pitta or kapha) and then go for the right type of exercise. Let's break your regime in three phases:

Cut down on foods which are preventing weight lose (which could be sugar, maida, too much wheat/rice) and combine it with weekly body massages (this will get the lymph channel moving) and steam (in summer).  Also go for walks which are not too taxing.

This phase will start once you have dropped 5-7 kilos. Shift from pure weight loss foods to normal diet.

You can also include indulgences on a weekly basis which you are likely to do after achieving your target weight (indulgence could be pizza, sweets, ice-creams).

This will prevent you from over-eating once the target is achieved.

Start on your life-long healthy eating plan which includes all the nutritionally good food which agrees with your body constitution and also include the weekly indulgences.

In consultation with your instructor, tailor-make a program for your needs.

Now step up the exercise. Do three days of brisk walking or cardiovascular and three days of stretching/yoga.

Principally men lose more on exercise than on diet programmes because of their body composition. But trying to escape a good diet regime is akin to a half-hearted programme which is bound to fail! So following a sensible diet to fit the exercise schedule is very important.

Do not attempt heavy diet and exercise together. It is most practical to begin with a strict diet regime coupled with basic walking (which shouldn't be strenuous).

Do not begin exercises with a short term goal in mind of just losing weight as stopping exercises after losing weight will bring it all back.

After losing weight, the only way to keep it off is to enhance your exercise programme as one tends to break the regimented diet after achieving the goal.

Plan weight loss in phases where you may initially do more of disciplined diets and as you reach your target switch to more of exercises and less of discipline diets.

Weight loss isn't an impossible undertaking when smart choices are put into action.

A good mix of healthy eating and a bit of exercise can really help. The key to long-term results is combining smart choices and lifestyle changes. You can do it but you have to work at it and follow through.

Remember, today is the very first day of the rest of your life. Make it a good day, a day of change and personal improvement.