How to Lose Weight Healthily

You need to know how to lose weight healthily if you crave permanent weight loss.

You can't starve your body for a few days or weeks or months and then expect to achieve permanent weight loss. If you are desperate to lose weight, yes you can go for rapid weight loss, but once the weight is off, you need to ensure that you eat well both in terms of types of food and portion sizes for the rest of your natural life. Oh and don't forget commitment to a bit of good old regular exercise.

So, here's some diet advice on how to lose weight healthily.

1. Invest in a calorie counter and a food and exercise diary to record your daily food intake and calorie output.

Use these books accurately every single day at least for the first 3 months with the aid of a kitchen scale and do not be tempted to guess-timate amounts or to develop calorie amnesia re a few fistfuls of tasty snacks through the day.

2. Make sure you take in around 30-40% carbs (mainly complex), 30-35% protein and no more than 30% fats (20% unsaturated) in your daily diet. Eat more carbs at the beginning of the day and more protein at the end of the day.

Read widely. Be informed both about nutrients and suitable recipes. The more informed you are, the more understanding your will have about how to lose weight healthily.

3. Don't go under an intake of 1000 calories - ever. You're body will think it's starving and with misplaced kindness, preserve your despised fat deposits for its battle against famine.

An intake of 1500 calories is manageable if you want to know how to lose weight healthily. Create a deficit by regular exercise. If you want rapid weight loss, then the solution is more exercise, not a starvation diet.

4. Take a good quality multivitamin every day.

5. Exercise briskly and regularly. 6 days a week is ideal, as is 40 minutes to 1 hour per day. Get used to it and make it a habit to replace your current "lying prone on the sofa in front of the TV with a jumbo pack of cheesy biscuits" habit.

6. Eat early and eat often. 5 -6 small meals a day - a meal can be a piece of fruit or a handful of raw nuts between breakfast and lunch. Breakfast, by the way, is a must. Can't face breakfast? If you want to claim that you can't cope with eating first thing in the morning, then you can't expect to be taken seriously when you claim you are desperate to lose weight.

A protein shake on skim milk is an excellent breakfast for people on the run and those who have fallen into a bad morning habit of not eating.

Protein shakes and indeed protein bars are not bad for you and you won't put on weight using them unless you mix them with full cream milk - and then the problem is the milk, not the shake. But do make sure you buy a good quality protein shake. The supermarket variety tends to be a bit high on sugar. Just take the time to read the label and be informed.

You could replace 2 meals a day with protein shakes made on skim milk or water if you are after rapid weight loss.

The best diet advice on how to lose weight healthily is the simplest. You can follow it easily. It requires a combination of desire and determination.

Just learn how to eat the right food at the right time of day in the right portions. Get some active and regular exercise that you can learn to really enjoy and look forward to. Permanent weight loss will be yours.