Let's be honest, if you want to lose 80lbs you have a heck of a lot of work ahead of you this year but there is no reason that if you aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week over the next 40 weeks then you will have made one hell of an accomplishment and people will compliment you so - understandably.
You will also greatly reduce your risk of so many of the obesity related diseases and your mobility and joint suppleness will improve exponentially as well as your self esteem and everyday you.
Step 1:
Make sure to check in with your GP or local doctor to get the low down on what changes they can advise you to implement so that you make the transition into this incredible challenge safely.
Step 2:
You next need to work out how many calories you should be consuming a day (your BMI) - on average 2000 for women, 2500 for men is the mean - and then plan your daily calorie intake so that it doesn't exceed your BMI.
Try and stick to healthy fats, non-processed carbs and lean proteins. You don't have to get pedantic about it but determining that each main course should consist of roughly 600 calories - no more, then you'll do fine staying within your right calorie range.
Note: Just remember that one Super-Sized Big Mac Meal consists of 1170 calories (not including a 500 calorie soft drink) - so that's more than half your daily required calorie intake for women right there.
Step 3:
In order to lose 1lb a week you'll need to burn roughly 500 calories a day or restrict your diet to 500 calories less a day - but ideally you should start to get active and out there as cardiovascular exercise is excellent for helping to sustain gradual and consistent weight loss.
Bear in mind that burning 500 calories is lost on average doing a 30 minute cycle ride, an hour's dog walk or a round of 9 holes of golf.
If you can aim at losing 1000 calories a day then that's 2 lbs a week and you'll be well on your way to chipping away at this incredible weight loss challenge.
High strength weight loss training may suit others as you begin to get fitter as this way you can increase your muscle mass while by lowering your percentage of body fat, by forcing your body to burn the calories you've just consumed and not allowing them to turn into fat deposits but muscle instead.
Step 4:
Use some of the latest gadgets to help keep the motivation up
These include gadgets which you can strap to the arm or clip to the pocket that will measure your body temperature, heart rate, perspiration, walking or running steps and all of your general physical activity throughout the day.
These will sync to your smartphone, tablet or PC and you can then login and check your progress daily.
Also try and get your hands on a set of "Quantum Scales". These are great as you just step on them once and they record your weight but after that they just display how many pounds you've lost from the day you first stepped on them.
They therefore show you how far you've come not some 3 digit figure which can be quite depressing and act as a motivational blocker.
Step 5:
Make changes to your everyday routines.
Take the stairs not the escalator when you go shopping, keep evening meals light and stop eating at least 2 hours prior to bed, have a relaxing salt bath, drink a cup of green tea that will help cleanse the organs while you sleep.
Lower the thermostat in the house if you live in a cold climate and keep it to around 62 Fahrenheit as this has proven through medical studies to help people lose weight as the cooler temperature forces your healthy brown fat to burn unhealthy white fat to stay warm - thus you'll increase your metabolism.
Join or start a new activity. Meetup.com is an excellent way to meet new people who are interested in similar hobbies - in this case being active and losing weight - so an excellent motivator.
