There are a lot of factors that need to be taken into consideration when determining the ideal body weight of a person. Certain factors are age, height, sex, and muscle-fat ratio. An excess of body weight can cause a lot of health problems for the overweight or obese individuals. According to a study by the Colorado State University, 70% of the Americans aged over 20 years are either overweight or obese. Due to unhealthy diet habits and a lack of physical activity, there is the formation of unwanted body fat leading to weight gain.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines points out that healthy ways to weight management is to monitor the calorie and fat intake, staying active and following a healthy lifestyle. The term weight loss means the reduction of total body mass, through the loss of fluid or body fat. For losing weight, different people tend to take varied routes. Weight loss programs are one of those routes for shedding some extra pounds in order to stay fit and healthy. People usually tend to take online references and follow a weight loss program. It has been observed that many a time, this route does not work in losing weight as expected.

Losing weight fast is a concern, as it takes a lot of extraordinary efforts through diet and exercising in order to lose one’s weight quicker. When one gets lured in by such ‘dubious’ weight loss programs that promises a faster rate of weight loss for less, then it can be misleading and you may not actually end up losing weight to the extent promised.

Besides, setting unrealistically difficult goals can be a problem. The efforts taken by the individuals for faster weight loss may be such that there is a tremendous effort put on the diet and exercise, to the point that it can actually be unhealthy. Most of the time achieving a faster rate of weight loss cannot be sustained in the long run, and it becomes physically and mentally challenging on the person to actually meet their set goals.

You must understand that while planning for a healthy weight loss, it does not alone mean that diet and exercise are the only two components of it. There is a requirement of bringing about a change in one’s lifestyle completely, which can help attain one’s weight loss targets.

Research shows that gradual and steady weight loss is more effective than any fast-track weight loss plans. A study by the National Weight Control Registry stated that those people who were on a gradual weight loss showed improvements not just in their physical appearance, but also in their energy levels, flexibility, mood, and self-esteem.

The typical recommendation by scientists and doctors is to lose about 1 to 2 pounds every week. Though this is a slow pace for someone actively wanting to lose more weight, it would help one sustain their weight loss for a longer period of time, than those who attempt to shed too many pounds. One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. This means that you should aim at losing one pound a week, which translates to burning more than 500 calories each day, over and above the calories you consume each day.

A research done by the Journal of the American Medical Association states that people who lose weight with low fat and low carb diets actually put back their weight within no time. Most of the low-fat diets that are prescribed in the weight loss programs slow down the body metabolism to a level where in it is not burning out the calories as effectively, as it actually should do.