There is a lot of information about obesity and weight loss, we get overwhelmed and confused. Each specialist advocates his or her own version of how to lose weight and if we are to blindly follow all the weight loss help, we are sure to get even more discouraged at the lack of progress. Before embarking on any diet or exercise program, let us clear the cobwebs and get to know the basic facts.

The basic or underlying logic for any program's success can be summarized as controlling our input and output. Input of calories from food varies and depends on our menu. Red meat, butter, ice cream, soft drinks give us more calories than fruits, vegetables, fish and water. To reduce the intake of calories, we can take more fish and less of red meat, more fruits in place of ice cream and water instead of soft drinks. Let us garner all the weight loss help we can, including low fat recipes and nutrition supplements.

But why should we reduce our calorie intake? It is to avoid adding fat to our already obese bodies. An input of 3500 calories gives us a pound of fat for our body to carry around. The extra weight also puts a strain on our internal organs, including hearts. That is the reason for more overweight people getting heart attacks compared with lean and trim ones.

There are simply different roads to reach the same destination. Consult your doctor and chose whichever program appeals to you. Ah, now we begin to see the sense behind all those programs on dieting and how to lose weight. The program is only a roadmap and we have to make the effort to travel all the way and not give up in the middle.

We now come to the other side of the issue. Controlling, or rather increasing our output of calories. Ideally we should expend all calories we ingest else, the surplus calories are stored as fat by our body. As we are already overweight, we should expend more calories than we take in, so that fat is converted back as glucose by our body to meet the demand.

Just as there are several diet programs to control our intake, there is equal number of exercise programs to increase the outgo of calories. Here again, let us check with our physician before we start on any plan. Ways to make exercise fun are many, including exercise bikes, inversion tables and multi-gyms for homes.

There is a basic and fundamental answer to the question of how to lose weight. People should engage in a dietary and exercise regimen that address both the intake of calories through our diet and the expenditure of calories through physical activity and exercise. If both issues are addressed, the chances of losing weight are increased greatly. No matter what happens, people who adhere to a combined dietary and exercise program will eventually lose weight. Good luck to everyone out there.