How long have you been overweight? How long have you tried to shed extra pounds? How many hours have you spent at the gym or counting calories? And what have the effects been for you? For most people, it is not weight loss that is difficult. Really. The hard part is sticking to weight loss goals and maintaining a healthy weight once you get there. This is what makes quick weight loss such a double edged sword for many of us. We take extreme measures, are thrilled to lose a few pounds, and then feel doubly disappointed, frustrated, and mad at ourselves when we watch the scale creep back up. Can we lose weight quickly and keep it off? What should we do -- or more importantly, what should we avoid?

Do you know what one of the best tools for getting slim is? Food. Without food, we won't lose any weight. We need calories -- which are simply units of energy -- in order to function. Say that, given your weight, height, age, and activity level, you need 2000 calories a day. If you suddenly drop that to 1000 calories, your body will think it is starving. We're still very much cavemen when it comes to weight. Our body thinks that there is famine and that it needs to conserve energy and store fat for us to survive on. This is a great survival trait -- if there is a famine.

In our society, we often have too much when it comes to food, and famine is not an issue. Our bodies don't need to store that fat, so ensure that you eat enough nutrients and calories to allow it to work optimally. Crash diets and skipping meals does not work. You will lose energy, be unable to work out, feel dizzy, and ultimately, go into starvation mode. This is all counterproductive to weight loss goals, not to mention your overall health. Eat to lose weight -- but eat well.

Exercise is the other component of effective and lasting weight loss, but again, we often go to extremes in our efforts to lose weight quickly. If we just run one more mile, if we hit the elliptical machine for an hour more, if we keep walking to nowhere on the treadmill it may seem counterintuitive, but too much exercise can actually prevent you from losing weight. Some people become as obsessed with exercise as they do with restricting calories, and yet, it can be very detrimental to your goals. This is not an excuse not to exercise! You still have to do it, but do it smart. Instead of walking on the treadmill for an hour, jog for a half hour and add some weight training.

Intellectually, you know that you can't lose all of the weight you want to after a day of restricting calories or exercising intensely. But somewhere in our brains, we expect instant results for our efforts. Setting our weight loss goals too high and doing too much in the beginning can lead us to failure and disappointment. Be realistic: you won't lose that 50 pounds in a week. But what can you lose in two weeks, three weeks, a month? If you choose a sustainable plan, weight will come off, and more importantly, it will stay off. "Quick" is weeks, not days.

Another mistake we make in our efforts to lose weight quickly is to not take advantage of the resources available to help us. We tend to think we're in it alone. We're not! Hundreds of millions of people are struggling to lose weight. Get a workout or diet buddy, try a safe effective product like 100 percent natural Hoodia, join an online group to discuss your goals. There is any number of ways to get the help you need; support is one of the key factors in losing weight and keeping it off.

You want to lose weight, but you don't want to do it if the cost is too high. Damaging your health is too high a price, as is dooming your weight loss goals with "get skinny quick" schemes. Rapid weight loss is possible through safe and effective products, like Hoodia, or weight loss supplements that block fat, boost thyroid function, and help with reducing water retention. But these will be effective in the long term only if you make a commitment to being healthy.


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