If you really aim to lose a few pounds the most basic way is to watch what you eat and burn the extra fat stored in your body.

Your aim would be to take in at least 15% less of the calories you eventually burn off, and this should be in the form of healthy food. If you take in more calories than you burn you will never get to your goal. No amount of calories you burn will be enough to offset a poor diet.

Workouts to lose weight should contain a blend of aerobics, weight-lifting and isometric exercises to increase your metabolism, grow your muscles and increase your strength … all of which burns fat.

Promoting muscle development through any exercise will bring future benefits in the form of weight loss. While lean muscle does weigh more, it’s healthier, takes up less mass on your body and those muscles burn more calories when you do work them… also lean muscle mass consumes fat to power itself.

Weight loss programs are most effective when done in repetitive format while using manageable equipments. The bane of most people who are overweight is their belly, their gut, their paunch… it is the caretaker of those last, stubborn 3 to 6 pounds.

And to eliminate it, strengthening the core muscles is a fantastic way to reduce the waistline; whether it’s Pilates, an aggressive Ab routine or a trainer-designed callisthenic series of moves and positions, the goal is stay moving as much as possible for the continued sweat.

You’ll also need to incorporate an aggressive cardio routine to lose weight. At least a 20 minute strenuous run (or bike ride or steps on the Stairmaster or treadmill, etc.) every other day will increase your heart rate and your metabolic rate.

Burning the extra calories off requires slowly reaching the necessary heart rate and perspiring in large amounts.

What’s important to remember when doing workouts to lose weight, is to determine what your optimal heart rate is (which depends on your weight and age) and to maintain that optimal heart rate for at least 30 minutes 4 to 6 days a week while doing intense interval cardio work for about 20 minutes after your weight-lifting session is really a great way to burn the calories, sculpt your body and take off the weight.

Heavy exercise is not necessary to lose weight although this will help develop muscle mass which burns fat faster, eventually leading to a dense but thin physique. When you do hit the weights, you want to do high reps with lighter weights, this increases your caloric use. For example, if you’re performing squats, it would be best to lift about a quarter off your optimum weight in 20 repetitions in as much as 4 sets. The effect will be felt after a few days when you will start to lose some of the calorie buildup. (Provided you’re not rewarding your great workout with a pizza.)

Not as quick as if you were taking some questionable supplement, but losing weight, keeping it off and remaining sexy, supple and smooth is a matter of adjusting your diet and maintaining a rigorous workout schedule, just ask Kim Kardashian.

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