In fact, a recent major international study that included a million people shows that people who are overweight or obese are reducing their life expectancy by up to one decade. So if you are looking for the motivation to lose weight, how does an extra ten years sound?

Many people view losing that excess weight as something they will do 'one day' or 'when they get around to it'. But that is half of the problem; then one day you wake up and you realize you are 30 pounds overweight and struggling to enjoy life. This is when the downward spiral of accelerated aging really starts to kick in and wreck your life.

As you get older, it is imperative that you must take better care of yourself. When we are younger our metabolism (our body's engine) is much faster, so we burn calories (fuel) much more easily. This makes it easier to consume a diet of highly processed and fatty foods while still maintaining a healthy body weight. But once you hit around age 25, it gets a little harder and this is the time when you may start to gain weight.

So if you need to lose weight (fat) when is the best time to get started? Well, now is as good a time as any as the longer you leave it the harder it will be. The solution is a combination of two things to reverse the build up of stored body fat. The first is the only method that will really increase your metabolic rate so your fat burning machinery is elevated every minute of the day and night.

This is a proper exercise program that contains mostly strength training exercise. It is likely that your muscles have become un-toned if you have not been doing enough strength maintaining exercise dropping your metabolic rate. This could be the main cause of you becoming overweight. So the situation must be reversed to succeed with weight loss. Going on a diet is the very worst thing you can do as it will further reduce your metabolism and work against your body. You need to work with your body for long term permanent success.

It is important that your program is set up properly by a fitness professional for best results. Not only do the right exercises need to be performed but they need to be performed with the right level of intensity (degree of difficulty) otherwise the results will be disappointing. Your program also needs to be updated regularly and progress monitored to keep those results coming.

The second part of your exercise program involves interval training. These are short bursts of all out activity alternated with slower periods of activity for recovery. An example of this would be 10-20 seconds of sprinting followed by one minute or so of walking. This should be repeated at least 8-12 times depending on your current fitness level.

If you are unfit it is best to start off easy even fast walking for the short burst and gradually increase speed as you become more conditioned. This type of exercise is very time efficient and can totally replace old fashioned long, slow steady state activity such as walking, jogging or cycling.

The last part of the puzzle is your eating plan. A few simple rules are all that is needed. Four to six small meals spread throughout the day of around 300-400 calories each. The important part of these meals is the protein source of around 20-30 grams that should be the center piece of each meal.

Add lots of vegetables raw or cooked, to make up the meal. The real secret is to prepare all of your meals the night before so no matter where you go during the day you have your food with you so you cannot go wrong. Keep the focus on what you should be eating rather than on what you should not be eating for best results.

No matter your age it is never too late to make these simple changes. Dumping off that excess weight will help you to feel so much better about everything in your life. And the best part achieving a healthy weight is those extra ten years added to your lifespan.