Lose Weight Safely Through Healthy Eating & Exercise

Exercise Helps You Lose Weight. Include some type of exercise, such as walking, into your weight loss plan. You will burn calories, lose weight, and feel better about yourself.
Learn to Eat Healthy Eat more fruits and vegetables. Use whole wheat bread instead of white bread. Use corn or whole wheat tortillas instead of flour tortillas. Eat more whole grain cereals like oatmeal or bran flakes. Choose low fat or nonfat milk, yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese.

Buy meat with less fat and drain off fat after cooking. Remove the skin from chicken. Avoid eating fried foods and use less margarine, butter, and oil. Healthy eating helps you lose weight.
Regular Meals Help You Lose Weight. Skipping a meal causes you to overeat at your next meal.
There Is No Quick, Easy Way To Lose Weight. Any program or product that promises quick, easy weight loss is trying to sell you something. You can succeed at losing weight, but it does take some effort.

Don't Waste Your Money On Useless Or Dangerous Weight Loss Products

Many pills, creams, teas, and herbs are sold for weight loss. Some herbal diet pills and teas have caused harm or death. Don't waste your family food dollars on useless or dangerous weight loss products. Spend your money on healthy foods the whole family will eat. Choose food, not pills to lose weight.

Natural Weight Loss Formulas. Fat burners and herbal diet pills may contain the natural herbs Ma Huang (ephedra), kola nut, chromium picolinate or guarana (caffeine). These herbs can increase heart rate and blood pressure. They can cause you to be nervous and have trouble sleeping. They are not safe if you have health problems. If you lose weight, it does not last and some people have died using them.

Diet Teas. Diet teas may contain the herbs cassia, senna, uva ursi, and licorice root. These herbs act as laxatives or diuretics. People using them have had severe stomach pain, cramps, diarrhea, and have even died.

Thigh Creams. These expensive creams claim to melt fat. They cost between $30 to $40 a jar,and they do not work. Women using the cream did not lose any weight or fat.

Weight loss devices, like those that give muscles an electric shock, and expensive exercise equipment are not necessary to lose weight. Simply walking for 30 minutes a day (60 minutes of physical activity for children) is all it takes to stay healthy. Even several 10-minute periods of moderate physical activity throughout the day gives you the same benefits. Adding strength training to help build muscle is an additional bonus to losing body fat.

A message from the California Department of Health Services funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. Information adapted from San Bernadino Department of Public Health Nutrition Program.

Content provided by the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Food Security Project under The Community Wellness & Prevention Program of Contra Costa Health Services.