If your big goal at the moment is to get started on a weight loss plan, the most important thing is going to be to create a caloric deficit. What this means is that you are going to need to expend more calories each day through your metabolism and additional exercise performed than you take in through food or beverages consumed.

If you manage to do this, weight loss will be yours. How big of a deficit (difference) you create will then determine just how much weight you lose and how quickly it comes off.

Different people will take different approaches to weight loss depending on their own individual preferences, lifestyle, and what's most comfortable for them.

Here are the two different options.

The Aggressive Approach

Some people choose to take a very aggressive approach with weight loss and will aim to achieve a deficit of 500 calories or higher. In order to lose one pound of body weight you will need a deficit of 3500 calories, so at a rate of 500 per day, this should equate to about one pound lost each week (real world results can differ slightly).

Certain people will go even higher than this, opting for 750 calories or 1000 calories less than what they burn each day. Typically with this, it will be more tolerable the heavier a person is, since they will have more body fat stores on which they can use for fuel.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to use a more demanding deficit and are already quite lean, you need to be taking breaks from your diet much more frequently.

This is to ensure that your metabolism does not slow down too drastically and also to help keep hunger levels under control.

The leaner you get, the more your body is going to protect the fat it has, helping to ensure you don't suffer starvation.

At lower body fat levels, the lower you bring your calories, the more that hunger monster will be screaming at you.

If this is your situation, have a once or twice weekly cheat meal (eat whatever you desire) and after every month, take three to days off and eat at maintenance levels.

The Moderate Approach

The second way to go about your dieting is with a more moderate approach using a 200-300 calorie deficit.

The advantages to this is that dieting will be much more tolerable as you will likely have to be less restrictive with your diet and hunger levels won't be as high, you'll have more energy since you're giving your body more fuel, and you won't risk as bad of a metabolic slow-down as before.

This is a good approach for those who are involved in a high level of physical activity because you simply cannot carry on high levels of exercise with a very large calorie deficit. Furthermore, the higher your deficit, the more you risk losing precious muscle mass tissue, so keeping it at a more moderate level will further help to prevent this.

The disadvantage to this approach is simply that it will take you longer. Obviously if your net calorie deficit at the end of the day is lower, not as much weight will be lost.

So, have a look at your goals, priorities, and timeline when trying to decide what type of diet approach you want to do. One big reason so many people fail with their dietary efforts is because they try and lose weight too quickly that the diet is just too intense for them to handle.

For many people, moderate does mean slower, but it also means the difference between seeing success and failing.