Lose weight fast and safe

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you should lose about 1-2 pounds.

If you want to lose weight faster, you'll need to eat less and exercise more.

For instance, if you take in 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day, and exercise for one hour per day, you could lose 3-5 pounds in the first week. It's very important not to cut calories any further -- that's dangerous. Limiting salt and starches may also mean losing more weight at first -- but that's mostly fluids, not fat.

Eat vegetables to help you feel full.

Drink plenty of water.

Get tempting foods out of your home.

Stay busy -- you don't want to eat just because you're bored.

Eat only from a plate, while seated at a table. No grazing in front of the 'fridge.

Don't skip meals.

It's time to move more! Losing weight requires close to an hour a day of moderate exercise, one study shows. Cardio burns the most calories, so it is ideal for fast weight loss, but afterward you need to include a few hours a week of strength training.

Pace yourself. Don't do too much, too soon -- work your way up to help prevent injury. One way to step up the intensity is to do interval training -- brief bursts of high-intensity, followed by a more mellow pace, and repeating that pattern throughout your workout. Interval training allows people to work harder without having to spend the entire time at the higher level, and over time, the more you do it, the easier it becomes to burn more calories.