KANAWHA COUNTY, W. Va. (WSAZ) – The premise for losing unwanted pounds is simple: burn more calories than you take in, but the hard part is finding the tools and discipline to stay focused.

"If the adjustments that a person is making are not made permanent -- well, the weight loss is just going to be temporary," said Joshua Galbraith, CEO & owner of Transformations Weight Loss and Skin Clinic.

In the billion dollar industry of weight loss where you can find supplements and pills and other programs that claim to help cut the pounds – it really comes down to two things: food and exercise.

"Nothing works without diet and nutrition and increasing physical activity," said Galbraith.

Some of the basics when monitoring your nutrition include making sure your breads and pastas are made of wheat and whole grains.

Also, be sure to enjoy several servings of fruits and vegetables during the day along with making chicken and fish your primary meat, according to experts.

They say make sure you don’t just stop eating to drop pounds.

"Even though they may be losing weight -- they're body fat percentage is actually going to increase," said Galbraith.

Once you're fueled up, it's important to hit the gym where workouts should be at least 45 minutes, five days a week.

It’s best to mix cardio and resistance training to build muscle which increases your metabolism and helps burn more calories.

To judge how intense your workout should be, Galbraith suggests the “talk test.”

"If you are physically capable of talking more than 50% of the activity, you're just not going fast enough," said Galbraith.

Finally, monitor your progress by keeping a food and exercise journal. It will be hard follow at first, but that added accountability will lead to greater results and a slimmer waistline.

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