The secret to weight loss actually isn’t really a secret. You already know the answer to how to lose weight. I’m sure you know the saying “burn more calories than you eat.”

But what does this really mean? I’ll try to explain with an example. Say you want to lose 20 lbs before your high school reunion which is in about 5 months so you can impress all your old classmates. To do this all you have to do is lose 1 lb a week for the next 5 months. Since there are 3,500 calories in a pound, if you eat 500 calories less per day you will lose one pound a week. So if you eat 2,000 calories a day you would eat 1,500 calories instead.

There are many different ways that you can reduce your caloric intake. You can eat the same foods you eat now but smaller portions, you can eat foods with lower amounts of calories, you can exercise or you can combine the 3 options. It all depends on what you want to do. If you are one that can’t go without your hotdogs and French fries then your best options is to eat smaller portions in combination with exercise.

There are a lot of ways to exercise but the most efficient method to spend your time is by running. By running you can burn about 100 calories per mile run (this number varies depending on your weight and the pace that you run). If you jog 3 miles 5 times per week, you can burn 1,500 calories which is close to a half pound. If you do this along with eating 250 calories less per day you can lose 1 pound a week.

One of the hardest part about staying motivated to run is convenience and fun. Electric treadmills make running very convenient as you don’t have to travel to a gym (and be judged by other people). They can also be fun as you can watch your favorite shows while you run. Treadmills can be expensive and boring for some so another option are GPS watches which can be great motivators as they will track your calories burned and distance traveled.