7 Tips to Help You Lose Weight Naturally and Permanently

There is no reason to struggle through a lengthy diet, lose all your weight, and then gain it all back.  The best diet programs help you lose weight naturally, so you maintain your weight loss.  Here are some tips to help you lose your weight and keep it off:

1.  Reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat.  Be especially careful to select good carbs versus bad carbs.  Good carbs come from whole grains, corn, carrots, beans, and other fresh vegetables.  Bad carbs come from refined flour, sugar, pasta, and anything that contains these items.  Some experts recommend that you keep your carbohydrate total to one-sixth of your total daily calories.

2.  Reduce the amount of fat in your diet and switch to healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil.  Don't eat trans-fats and hydrogenated fats, such as shortening.  Check the labels of your foods to be sure they don't contain hydrogenated fats.  Peanut butter is a good example.  The ones that have oil at the top are not hydrogenated.   Mix the oil in with the peanut butter and keep it in the refrigerator.  Be careful not to reduce the fat in your diet to the point where you joints suffer.  Your body needs some healthy fats to function efficiently.

3.  Eat a lot of low density vegetables - those that have low calories - so you can eat a lot more.  A good example is greens.

4.  Don't eliminate fiber from your diet.  Eat around 25 grams each day, which includes 10 grams of insoluble fiber.

5.  Find an eating plan that you can adopt permanently so you can continue after you've lost your desired weight.  Don't go on a strange diet that you will only be able to follow for a short time.

6.  Include exercise in your weight loss regime.  It will tone up your body and help you lose weight faster.  Building your muscles also increases your metabolism, allowing your body to burn fat faster.  Try to burn about 300 calories a day through exercise.  Be advised, though, that muscles weigh more than fat, so as you increase muscle mass you may not show as quick a loss on the scales, even though you are losing fat.

7.  Focus more on improving your health than just losing the pounds.  Don't rush your weight loss.  Allow your body to adjust gradually to weighing less and you will feel better.