On my personal weight loss blog, I go into great detail about my struggles with weight loss. Anyone who's read my blog will realize that I don't believe there is a magic cure for weight loss. I know that many people have had successful weight loss with a lot of different programs, and I also know that 95% of them gain the weight back. So, if you clicked on this article to read about a magical pill made from the urine of a rare toad found off the coast of Madagascar, well you're in the wrong place. if you want to know the truth about losing weight, no gimmicks, and no-cost, you're in the right place.

Like many women, I've struggled with my weight since my mom spit me out of her womb. I've starved myself, exercised myself into literally fainting, done the grapefruit diet, banana diet, and Metabolife. I've tried rare enzymes, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers ..Do you get my point? I have experience. I'm not the only one, either. If you were interested in my the title of this article, you probably have as much experience as I do. The only difference between you and me is; I stopped looking for magic and finally accepted the truth.

The truth is, every diet works for the time period that you use it. That means as long as you're following Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, you'll lose weight, but as soon as you stop and go back to your old habits the weight will all come back. If you really want lose weight, you'll make the decision to follow an eating plan the rest of your life.

You have to make a commitment to yourself to lose weight. You dont have to make huge commitments. 3500 calories a week less in food and exercise is about a pound a week. Thats 52 pounds in one year. All you have to do is exercise 1750 calories a week and eat 1750 calories a week less. I'll break that down even easier : thats burning 250 calories in exercise a day and reducing the amount of calories you consume by 250. You're still not convinced? Ok thats about 15 minutes of aerobics a day for a 250 LB woman, 30 for 150lb woman in exercise, and if you give up 83 calories for each meal a day. Now I know you can do that! Before you make your commitment, remember that after you've lost your weight you will have to watch your calories and exercise for the rest of your life.

I know that sounds ominous. The Rest of Your Life! It's like a sentence handed down from a judge. I know how you feel: I've committed no crime, but I've been sentenced to life. But if youre committed to losing weight thats the price. The price comes with tough choices. So here is your first decision: After you're done cursing the genetically gifted, can you let go the idea of just losing weight and instead, let the weight loss come as you change your life?

Can you commit to writing down every morsel of food you put in your mouth? I mean everything. If you eat a peanut, you write it down. I guarantee you that you have no idea how many actual calories you consume. My mom screamed "WHAT?" when I told her that one teeny tiny little bunch of raisins is nearly 370 calories. About 100 grams of raisins. It is actually less calories to eat an entire frozen dinner from Weight Watchers. If you don't believe me, try it just for one week. Don't cheat. Weigh and measure all your food and see how many calories you consume. Learning what you put in your mouth will help you figure out how to consume less.

Lastly can you commit to burning calories through exercise? Every pound you lose, you will lose muscle, even if you do muscle training (which is not optional btw, you have to do it while losing weight). The bigger the weight loss the more muscle lost. That is why you read all those diets that say 1-2 lbs a week is best. Its because you need to rebuild the muscle you lose, while you lose weight. More muscle = faster metabolism. Faster metabolism = better maintenance! Maybe you're thinking about The Biggest Loser contestants and how they lose 15 pounds in a week. STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM! THEY EXERCISE FOR A LIVING WHILE AT THAT RANCH. Are you prepared to exercise and lift weights for 8 hours a day? 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week minimum, thats your commitment. The good news is that exercise, unlike eating plans, is addictive. Begin in small increments and in about 6-8 weeks you'll have days where you need to burn off excess energy.

Now you have all the information you need to commit. You need the tools to continue.

Personally I love the sparkpeople website. Its 100% free. The link to their website is not an affliate link, they can't afford affliates and quite frankly dont need any. I tout their site because of what it stands for. That site gives you 100% free articles, your personal journal, exercise videos, a food journal, exercise journal and the best part all the members there are so nice and helpful. Forget weight watchers meetings, this is much better AND FREE! So I hope you visit their site. (since I like weight watchers food, hey it tastes good, I shouldn't say forget it haha).

Next you'll need a food scale. I'll link the one I use below. There are others but I like that.

Some decent exercise shoes help too.

I'm putting my personal recommendations at the bottom, because I want you to go to Sparkpeople.com as well. But if youre still reading the amazon box below is the items I use.

I wish you best of luck and many pounds lost. Please look me up on spark I'm called Malaia, if you join. Just so I know I Spark-ed some interest! =)