When you are trying to lose weight, it is a good idea to exercise and eat the right foods to see the results you want. When you begin to see immediate results in your weight loss efforts, it can motivate you and make you feel better to continue toward your weight loss goal. Finding the right balance of exercise and healthy eating is the key to losing weight. Here are three tips to help you achieve weight loss.

Understand the Correct Ratio of Exercising to Healthy Eating 

Most important for weight loss is what you put in your body as fuel. If you feed your body unhealthy foods, your body is not going to feel its best. You are also not going to see great weight loss results. 

Healthy eating should be the majority of your focus to lose weight. A recent study asked more than 1,200 people in the U.S., Canada, China, France, and South Korea about the main factor that makes people overweight. Those individuals who thought exercise was more important had a higher body mass index. Those individuals who believed diet to be the key had a lower body mass index.

The result of your weight loss efforts is 75 percent diet and 25 percent exercise, according to Shawn M. Talbott, PhD, nutritional biochemist and former director of the University of Utah Nutrition Clinic. Several studies have found that individuals see the biggest short-term results in weight loss when they eat smart. This is not suggesting you should not exercise during your weight loss. It is important to use diet and exercise with the right balance between the two to have healthy weight loss.

Exercise Regularly

Exercising with healthy eating will help you achieve better weight loss long-term. When you gain more muscle mass, your body requires more calories to sustain itself, so you will lose weight easier when you exercise. 

To add exercise into your weight loss, aim for five to seven moderate workouts a week at 50 minutes each. This can include brisk walking, jogging, Zumba, elliptical trainer, or a series of push ups, squats, lunges, and planks. 

Exercising will help you feel better while you are losing weight, help you sleep better, and reducing your stress levels. As you feel better, you will be motivated to continue your weight loss.

Eat Healthy

It is important to have a healthy mindset about your diet when trying to lose weight. When you make your eating habits most important during a diet, you will make healthy choices right off and not feel like you have to exercise more to burn any excess calories you took in. Focusing on exercising as the only way to lose weight won't be successful, as most people overestimate the amount of calories they think they burn during exercise. When you eat junk, you may not always burn it off later during your workout.

To get more immediate results with your weight loss plan, eat many fruits and vegetables along with protein. Avoid grains, pastas, and other processed carbohydrates. It will be easier to continue making these changes in your life when you see results. 

A good guideline to follow at while you are grocery store is to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store. This is where you will find the meats, produce, and other whole foods. By eliminating breads, pasta, and other processed carbs, you will increase your weight loss right at the start of your diet. This healthy eating plan for weight loss does not eliminate carbohydrates completely because you can still eat all the fruit and vegetables you want, as long as there are no added sugars. 

Use these tips to help you lose weight faster and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Click here for additional reading.