by Yusra Ahmad

Created on: May 27, 2009

It's a simple mathematical formula, eat more calories than you burn in a day and you will have excess that your body will store as fat. Your body will divide the fat as it sees fit, which means that it will not only give you that larger chest that you've been dreaming of but will also add a little extra to those love handles. If you really want to outsmart weight gain you need to prepare yourself well.

Firstly and most importantly be honest with yourself by answering the following questions truthfully:

1) How much do you really want this? Losing weight takes dedication and perseverance so sitting on the couch eating crisps is not going to be a daily occurrence.

2) By how much are you over-eating on a daily basis? Many people believe that they are "not eating much" throughout the course of the day and wonder why they are piling on the weight. Think about the number of calories you are consuming and count everything, even that biscuit you had with your coffee this morning probably had 50-80 calories.

3) How much exercise are you doing? Just because you aren't in the gym for 4 hours a day doesn't mean that you are not exercising. Walking, climbing stairs, playing with your kids are all forms of activity.

4) Do you feel healthy? Feeling tired, lethargic, weak or unhappy can be directly linked to low levels of physical fitness and bad diet.

Now that you've got your answers, consider the big picture. You maybe more active on a day-to-day basis than you initially thought and your problem is the amount of calories you're consuming. Or perhaps you're not exercising enough even though you are eating within your daily allowed calorie intake (2000 = women, 2500 = men). Now that you know your strengths and weaknesses focus on them.

The first thing to note is that diets do not work! It is impossible to sustain long-term weight loss by crash dieting. Why? Because during a diet you allocate a time-limit and deprive yourself of every "bad" food you adore. Once this is up, your cravings take the better of you and you are guaranteed to regain the lost weight as well as a little extra for your trouble.

You need to consider why you are trying to lose weight. If it is in favour a healthier lifestyle then you need to see this as a complete life change. For this exact reason you should not swear off any foods. Even if it is high in fat or cholesterol you may be able to enjoy it if you introduce it to your diet wisely. Make sure that you don't exceed your

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