You have probably heard that if you use a smaller number of calories than your body needs for fuel through a calories loss eating program and if you exercise then you will lose weight. It is true, and this is the only way that you will ever successfully enjoy a healthy weight loss and keep this weight off.

Generally, we consume around 2,000 calories each day and experts suggest that this is what the average person requires. If by following a calories loss eating plan, you reduce your food intake and only eat 1,500 calories daily, your body needs to search for the energy required from the 500 calories you did not eat from another source. This source happens to be the fat your body is storing and that you want to shed!

This steady burning of additional fat does bring about weight loss unlike popular diets or even diet pills that promise to do this but can not in a healthy way or across the long term. Keeping an eye on your calories intake and the calories you need to burn is an important part of losing weight. As for example, there are about 3,500 calories in every pound of fat, you need to burn 17,500 calories to lose this weight by creating a calories loss little by little over time.

No pill can ever cause your body to burn that many additional calories. Only restricting your calories in a calories loss menu and forcing your body to burn fat for energy can cause real weight loss. Dieting is about more than just calories though and you need to maintain a sense of balance in your eating program to lose weight and remain healthy.

An unbalanced diet consisting of only salad and diet soda will not help you lose weight as this is not enough for your body to operate in a healthy way. Your body needs more than this because it needs to be fuelled by food. A healthy food program should provide this fuel and reward your body for the work it does instead of punishing it.

Common sense dictates that there is only one way to fuel your body so that it remains healthy even when you are losing weight. This is the inclusion of a variety of foods including fruits, healthy fats, whole grains and vegetables. 'Not so difficult' you may think 'But what about eating these foods even when you'd rather your high calories favorites like donuts with coffee and deep fried fish and fries'?

Changing established eating patterns is not always easy when what you want is a piece of pie and ice cream and what your body needs is a fruit salad and serve of healthy yogurt. To lose weight you will need to choose the later and make this choice as part of a change to your lifestyle change rather than just another temporary diet. This will guarantee a calories loss that will in turn help bring about the weight loss you crave across the long term.

Losing weight should not be your only priority as developing a healthy body is the best direction in which to be traveling and the best reason to be counting calories. If you uphold your body by feeding it healthy wholesome foods and not denigrate and if you add regular exercise to your schedule, you will discover that your weight loss will begin and continue. Foods such as vegetables, whole grains, fruits and lean meat will provide the fuel your body needs, allow it to function in all the ways it should and provide the opportunity for your excess fat to be used as energy.

So, even if your eating and exercise lifestyle changes feel a little strange at first because they are new and different, persevere because in time they will seem NORMAL. The greatest challenge is surviving the time of initial calories loss. By the time this change becomes part of your new pattern of living however, your weight loss will have begun and you will feel confident and wonder how you ever lived any other way.