Can You Lose Weight Without Expensive Products Or Diet Plans?

The weight loss industry is big business, raking in more than 50 billion every year in diet aids, exercise products, body imaging surgical procedures and more. Americans are desperate to lose weight and are paying a bundle for anyone - or anything - that can offer the results they crave. But, what if you don't have the money to pay for expensive procedures or prepackaged foods? Are you destined to be fat forever? Absolutely not! There are plenty of ways to lose weight without all the products offered by today's dieting gurus. Here is just a sampling of some old fashioned ways to lose weight:

Cut Back on Those Calories!

Like it or not, most of us eat way too many calories in a day! Most adults only need between 1800 and 2000 calories (depending on their size and their age), to maintain their current weight. Eat more than that and you are going to find the scale inching upward. Now, if you want to lose weight, you are going to have to cut that caloric intake to about 1,200 to 1,500 calories to lose about 1-3 pounds per week. Be careful not to cut back too much though. If you eat less than 1,000 calories per day, your body will go into starvation mode. This will slow your metabolism, and with it your ability to burn fat and calories. So, be sure to eat at least 1,000 calories of highly nutritious foods every day in order to keep your body burning away those fat reserves.

Eat A Well-Balanced Diet

Your body can not work properly (and that means burn away excess fat and calories) without the right mix of nutrients. To make sure that your body is working at peak capacity, be sure to fill it with premium fuel derived from fresh fruits and vegetables and lots of whole grains. Stay away from processed and pre-packaged foods, which are generally high in salt, sugar and fat content. Even protein drinks can be a real diet killer - often containing high levels of sugars, caffeine and calories! To ensure that you are getting the right mix of nutritious foods, make sure that your plate resembles a rainbow at every meal, featuring foods of all different colors such as green, yellow, orange and brown. If all the foods on your plate look alike, then you are mixing it up well enough.

Drink Enough Water

More often than not, people eat when they are really thirsty. Be sure to drink at least 48 ounces of clear water per day (preferably a little more). It not only will help you feel fuller throughout the day and keep you from snacking, it will keep your body's cells hydrated properly which will help them work better, which can help to rev up your metabolism and burn more calories.

Exercise Every Day!

You may have hoped that you could lose weight without exercising. No such luck. Without getting at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, your weight loss goals will be difficult to accomplish. Of course, getting in 45-60 minutes of exercise every day is best and will reap better results, but 30 minutes is the absolute minimum to strive for!

Exercise is important for a lot of reasons. It helps you burn calories, but it also helps you build muscle. Since muscles are the body's natural fat-burner, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you can burn in the least amount of time. As a matter-of-fact, some experts estimate that people who walk just a half hour a day build enough muscle to burn twice the calories of someone who doesn't.

Does that mean that you have to hit the gym and work out hard? Not at all! Find an activity you love - any activity: walking, bike riding, golfing, even cleaning the house all count. The important thing is to move your body and work up a sweat.

As you can see, there are plenty of inexpensive ways to lose weight. All of those exercise gadgets and diet plans are nice, but they really aren't necessary. If you can commit to a better eating plan, drink enough water and start exercising every day, you will notice a change in your waistline.

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