4 Keys to Effective and Permanent Weight Loss

There are only 4 key ways to effective and permanent weight loss and achieving your ideal weight: eating properly, regular exercise, motivation and sleep. All four go hand-in-hand. You cannot effectively lose weight and keep it off if you do not adhere to these 4 keys.

How much weight should a person strive to lose? Your goal should be to achieve what your ideal body weight should be based on your height and your body structure. You should not look to getting as skinny as you can because that can come with other health problems. You will know when you have achieved your ideal weight by how you feel. Generally-speaking, at your ideal weight, you will feel healthier, more active and full of energy.

You can also lose weight quickly but the tough part is to keep it off permanently and not to succumb to bad habits or laziness. Permanent weight loss requires you to adhere to my 4 keys. Now, let’s look at my 4 keys to successful weight loss and overall healthiness.

The first key is eating properly. By this I mean you must eat the correct foods, the right quantity and not skip meals, especially breakfast. By depriving your body of the nutrients it needs in the morning and early part of the day, it forces your body to build up stores of fat. Likewise, snacking on junk food or foods with empty calories and eating large meals late in the day is not helpful either. So basically stick to eating regularly and smaller portions.

My next important key to weight loss is some kind of exercise program. It can be a combination of weight training to tone and build muscle strength combined with cardiovascular exercise or if you prefer, it can include Yoga, Pilates or some dancercise class. The whole point is you need to exercise to stay active and get fit.

The third key to losing weight is motivation. You really have to want to do it. Set up some goals, a plan and stick to it. Remind yourself and motivate yourself why you want to lose weight and keep it off. By staying positive and motivated, you will gradually see the results and it will feel really good. It will help you to keep going. If you have trouble getting motivated, maybe your spouse can help to keep you going or sometimes professional fitness help is needed.

Also motivation will help you to stick with your exercise and eating plans throughout the year. You shouldn’t be the type of person who starts with a new exercise program or new goals every year, but after a few weeks you give up only to try and try again another year. When you stay focused you will lose weight and keep it off throughout the entire year.

The final key to not gaining weight is sleep. Sleep is very critical. There have been studies done that indicate that if you do not get your required amount of sleep, you will gain weight. How much sleep you should get varies from individual to individual, but I feel that you should get between 6 to 8 hours of sleep daily.

In summary, by adopting my 4 keys into your lifestyle, you will not only lose weight and achieve your ideal weight but you will feel happier, sexier and much healthier both physically and mentally. You will have more confidence in yourself and more energy.