by chibo

Created on: February 25, 2007   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

By now this is all a cliche, but plain and simple, the only way to effectively lose weight is to maintain a healthy diet and get excercise.

The big, fat problem is, most people don't care about losing weight, they want to lose mass. Don't forget, fat weighs less than muscle. Plenty of folks go lift weights thinking this will help them lose weight when it is actually going to cause them to gain weight. Get real about what it is you are really trying to accomplish.

A healthy diet doesn't necessarily consist of anything labeled as "light," "lite" or "free." The most effective and practical keys to a better diet are simply to reduce soda consumption and factor out fast-food. Doing those two things will make your diet more healthy by default.

Beyond that, vegetables and fruits are infinitely helpful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Dairy is a more debateable dietary dilemma. Many suggest reducing or even eliminating it from the diet. Calcium isn't exclusive to milk, in fact, the calcium found in broccoli (though less in quantity) is actually more readily and easily absorbed by the body. Do what feels right. Nobody's diet will work for everyone else, we are, afterall, individuals.

Even if a dramatic shift in diet is too demanding, losing weight and waist size is impacted just as much by excercise. This is another area where people seem to have a lot of misonceptions.

Excercise is generally thought of as an excruciating experience. Prolonged jogging or running is what people think of oftentimes. A new PSA campaign has encouraged people to go "Do" and that is the best message on television today. Excercise as excercise isn't anymore efficient than just living an active lifestyle. If you drove to the store, are you really that exhausted that you can't walk to the building? Make a point to park farther away. Or, stop and take a walk around a local park after that trip to the store.

A study done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., even found that fidgety people are dramatically less likely to develop obesity. If twiddling your fingers constantly all day is the only excercise you are willing to do, then at least do that.

In my personal experience, I have found the most effective excercise programs to be hatha yoga and tai chi chuan. Neither requires a gym membership and both can be done right at home. There are instructional DVDs available and a growing population of teachers in both practices. Yoga is a metabolism booster beyond anything I have ever experienced. Since dropping from 230 to 200 pounds, I have even tried to gain weight (I made a summertime goal of 215), but haven't leapt past 206 in two years.

I give much credit to the tai chi, however. In spite of its gentle appearance, it does more for the body than any other form of excercise, when done properly. It too boosts the metabolism, and also improves digestion, which is quite important in both acquiring nutrients and disposing of wastes and toxins.

The biggest key of all, however, is a positive attitude. If you crack and eat five chocolate bars in one sitting (it happens, believe me I know) don't feel guilty! Just acknowledge that it is counter-productive to your goals and make a point to abstain the next time that craving comes on. Give yourself that wiggle room.

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