One Week Weight Loss Program

Many commercials and testimonials for diet products tell you that you can lose incredible amounts of weight quickly. Some even say that you don't have to change your diet or exercise patterns much. But even if all these claims were true, rapid weight loss has some real, unavoidable consequences.

The Centers for Disease Control guidelines for weight loss suggest that dropping more than 2 lbs. per week can have negative health effects such as dehydration, malnutrition, gallstones and electrolyte imbalances. These conditions on their own aren't necessarily fatal, but can be if they go on for too long.

Food

Any weight-loss regimen has two major components: diet and exercise. The food you eat during the week should be high in proteins and vitamins and low in fats. The idea is that you are trying to consume calories that will be easily burned when you exercise. Fruits, vegetables and meats all burn off easily during aerobic exercises such as running or swimming. Fatty foods like cheese and sweets don't come off as easily.

Exercise

For losing weight, aerobic exercises are the most efficient. These are the fat- burning exercises. While lifting weights might look cool, strength-training exercises build up muscle, but don't do as good a job on the fat. Aerobic exercises should last at least 30 minutes and ideally, you should do them at least three times per week.

For an aerobic exercise to be effective it is important to get yourself up to the target heart rate. This is the heart rate where your body begins to burn fat. One you reach this heart rate, your body must stay there for at least 30 minutes. Generally, an aerobic workout session starts with a stretch. Stretching is crucial to preventing injury. After stretching you have the actual workout cycle: warm-up, aerobic exercise and cool down. Some good aerobic exercises are running, cycling and swimming.

Planning

The reason why people have trouble with losing weight is not because of some innate physiological reason. Exercise and healthy eating will lead to a healthy weight. The problem usually lies in inconsistency. Many people live on the go, rushing around and don't have time to regularly exercise or prepare a healthy meal. This is why any weight-loss plan should look beyond one week. Pick a time to start working on your weight when you don't have any other emergencies or seriously pressing issues. Building the habit is the hardest part, but if you make it, the benefits are wonderful.