What is the best way to lose weight?

The definition of best is losing weight in a healthy way so it won't come back. You can be healthy and increase the chance that the weight will not come back by losing it in a slow and controlled manner. The most important rule when losing weight is eating less calories than you burn (a negative calorie state). If you follow this guideline, the weight will come off.

The question is: what is the best way of getting into a negative calorie state? You can either cut calories by dieting, increase the number of calories you burn through exercise or a combination of both. Healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. By drastically cutting your calories or increasing your exercise level, it is possible to lose weight faster, but faster weight loss also means you are more likely to gain the weight back once you return to your normal habits.

Losing weight slowly allows you to better adjust to the changes in your diet. These smaller changes aren't as drastic so when it's time to end your diet, you won't automatically go back to your old ways. Think about cutting 500 calories out of your daily intake. Now think about cutting 1,500 calories to lose weight even faster. If you cut 1,500 calories out of your day, once you're done losing all the weight, you're much more likely to go back to eating junk and a lot of it because you've deprived yourself by such a large amount.

The weight loss equation has two sides. Amount of calories you take in (dieting) and the number of calories you burn (exercise). To lose weight in the best way, you should work both sides of the equation. By exercising, you can increase the difference between what you burn and what you eat which means faster weight loss. This allows you to eat more and still lose weight.

Losing weight by exercise alone or diet alone is possible but it isn't the best (losing weight in a healthy way so it won't come back) way.