Obesity is becoming more and more of a problem these days, with more than one-third of the U.S. population now falling into the overweight category. Therefore, obesity is something that a large number of people suffer from, and most of them aren’t aware of the multitude of risks associated with it.

If you’ve decided that you don’t want to be in this category any longer, I’d like to do my best to help you out with that by giving you some simple tips on how to lose weight in a healthy way, through diet changes and exercise, so without further ado here they are:

Quick Bursts of Cardio

Losing weight has a lot to do with burning energy; the more energy you make your body burn, the more it will tap into your fat reserves and break them down, ultimately leading to weight loss. A great way to make your body burn a lot of energy in a short period of time is to perform cardio bursts in the middle of your workout. For example, say you’re on the bench press and you’ve just completed your first set. While you’re still tired from lifting, immediately get on the treadmill and do a 30-second sprint. This will put a high amount of stress on your body and give your metabolism a huge boost that will last long after your workout has already been finished.

Nutrition

You might’ve already heard the saying that goes “abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym”, and to a certain extent I must absolutely agree with this. While physical activity is very important for losing weight and improving your health, an equally important part of the whole thing is definitely your diet and the nutrition you get from food.

I’m not going to bore you with a whole bunch of different rules and facts here because nutrition can get pretty complicated rather quickly, so I’m going to narrow it down to one, simple, effective rule: everything in moderation. That’s it. You can still have fast food, soft drinks, sweets or whatever else you enjoy, just gradually reduce the quantity and I guarantee you’ll feel better and ultimately shed the extra pounds.

High-Intensity Interval Training

There are typically two main approaches to cardio that are the standards in fitness today. You have steady state cardio, which basically means performing low-intensity aerobic exercises for longer periods of time, and you have high-intensity interval training (often abbreviated to HIIT) which, as the name suggests, involves doing workouts of very high intensity and introducing short rest periods in between them.

Of the two methods, I definitely have more good things to say about HIIT, as it’s simply a superior method when it comes to weight loss. Putting your body and your nervous system under stress not only burns more calories, but it also results in the secretion of certain hormones that aid in weight loss and kick your metabolism into high gear. Just remember that HIIT is pretty intense and challenging, so I wouldn’t recommend doing more than two or three HIIT sessions a week if you’re a beginner.

Do Yoga

Yoga is one of the best, safest and most effective ways in which you can both strengthen your body, lose the extra pounds and drastically improve your overall health – I really can’t say enough things about it. It’s a real holistic approach that involves breathing exercises, focusing on your body and becoming super-aware of your own physical, mental and emotional state. Our body is a unit, and to make sure the unit functions properly you’ve got to do some maintenance on every front from time to time, and yoga is the best way to do so (that I am aware of, in any case). I highly recommend trying a yoga class if you want to improve your health as a whole, and after you do the weight loss will come on its own.

Theresa Brawner is a 28-year-old fitness instructor from Boston, MA, who writes articles for www.diet.st. in her free time. When she isn’t helping new moms get back in shape, you can find her in the kitchen, working on new recipes.