It is simple science. A single pound of fat contains 3500 calories of energy. Therefore, if you are looking to lose a pound of fat per week, you need to ingest 3500 less calories than you burn per week. The key to achieving this goal is by reducing your calorie intake by 500 calories per day. Doing so will allow you to lose around a pound of fat per week.
Does this seem manageable to you? Looks good to me. Just think. If you need to lose 25 pounds, you can do so in less than six months. Furthermore, it has been proven that such a steady and gradual weight loss will further enable you to keep the weight over the long-haul.
So, how do you cut out 500 calories per day. I do not think this will be too difficult. In fact, I will give you some clues below.
1. Putting milk in your coffee in stead of cream saves you 50 calories.
2. A baked potato is great without butter. If you agree, you can cut 100 calories right there.
3. Drinking flavored water rather than the sugar filled liquid 16 ounce soda can cut 200 calories out of your diet. This adds up.
4. Special sauce on a sesame seed bun? Forget the 460 calorie Big Mac and order a healthy salad. Even if you add light salad dressing to your salad, you are still cutting more than 360 calories.
5. A bag of chips does you no good. Therefore, you can cut it out of your diet and save 300 calories.
6. Pass the corn please, but make sure it has ears. Corn of the cob consists of 80 less calories than canned corn.
7. Regular cream cheese or low-fat cream cheese. What is the difference? About 90 calories, that’s what.
8. While I recommend that you avoid French fries, if you must have them, order the steak-cut fries over the thin fries. The truth is that the thin fries absorb more fat. Making this selection will lower your calorie intake by approximately 50 calories per 4 ounce serving.
While limiting the amount of calories which you take in on a daily basis is one way to lose weight, you can also lose weight by burning more calories. This is done by becoming more physically active. Look at how simple this can be accomplished by directing your attention to the examples below.
1. Just a 30 minute higher tempo walk will burn about 160 calories.
2. A five mile bike ride is a nice way to burn 250 calories.
3. Getting on the dance floor and moving your body to the music can burn up to 400 calories in as little as one hour.
4. Not only is swimming fun, it is also a great way to burn 500 calories in just 60 minutes.
5. I bet you did not realize how healthy gardening can be. Due to the bending and stretching, you can burn 250 calories by simply playing in your garden.
6. You should take up tennis. Tennis is one of those sports which enables you to burn 800 calories in an hour of fun.
You should know that they above figures are based upon the calorie burning ability of a 130 pound woman. Therefore, if you weigh more than 130 pounds, you will burn more calories than the aforementioned examples. Furthermore, those exercises will lead to healthy muscle gain. Healthy muscle turns your body into a calorie burning machine, even when you are sleeping.
While we can either cut back on the calories which we consume, or engage in more physical activities to lose weight, I suggest a combination of both for optimal results. However, you must make sure to not limit your calorie intake too much. Doing so will cause your metabolism to slow down as a defense mechanism to starvation. Make sure than you always consume in excess of 1000 calories per day to avoid this.
Make sure that you keep your exercise and calorie consumption at a healthy level. Also maintain records of both of these activities to make sure that you remain on track. Before you know it, you will have the body that you were working towards.
Learn more about fitness weight loss. Stop by Cheryl Carter’s site where you can find out all about weight loss plans and what they can do for you.