According to the website of the World Health Organization, over one billion people in the world are overweight while at least three hundred million of them are obese. Obesity is a major cause of diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, strokes and certain types of cancer. It can be easily inferred from these diseases that obesity can eventually lead to death and hence needs to be curbed.

Most individuals look out for easier alternatives of loosing weight such as diet programs which more often than not promote starving. Some diet programs advice for individuals to consume artificial sweeteners instead of sugar which in itself is fattening. As contradictory as it sounds, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners interfere with the natural ability of the body to sense and burn calories thereby increasing weight instead of reducing it.

Another rookie mistake people make in order to loose weight is eliminating certain types of food from their diet completely. These mostly include carbohydrate rich food. It is a misconception that doing away with complex carbohydrates reduces weight. In fact not eating properly or starving yourself has quite an adverse effect on your body.

It slows down the body’s metabolism thereby retarding one’s ability to digest fats and carbohydrates. Another error people commit as far as eating habits are concerned, is consuming a light breakfast. It has been rightly said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Having a filling breakfast leaves you satiated thus improving your metabolism. In fact some experts believe that the intake of fat rich food like bacon and sausages in breakfast renders you guilty and you tend to work out more in order to burn the extra calories you’ve consumed over breakfast. The subsequent meals should be in small portions and four to five in number so as to keep that metabolism rate going.

The most effective means of getting rid of that extra body fat is proper and prudent exercise. Exercise does not only imply that one must work out in the gym for hours together. Exercise can be anything from taking a brisk stroll in the park to climbing the staircase of your house in between television commercials. A balanced work out regime may include twenty minutes of cardiovascular exercises and ten minutes of weights/crunches. Other forms of popular exercise are yoga, aerobics, dancing and skipping.

Most importantly a good night’s sleep and a sound intake of water (for flushing out the acids) help in shedding the extra kilos.