It is a very simple equation. A pound of fat is the equivalent of 3500 calories. Thus, if your goal is to lose one pound per week, you essentially need to consume 3500 less calories per week than your body utilizes. Therefore, if you were to reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day, and continue on your normal day to day activities, you would lose about a pound a week.
Not too difficult huh? If you are twenty-five pound overweight, you can reach your ideal weight in less than six months. Losing weight gradually, such as a pound per week, enables you to keep the weight off long-term.
Now the task is to figure out what needs to be cut out of your diet to reduce it by 500 calories per day. I am sure that we can find a few things. In fact, I have compiled a list below to give you some ideas.
1. Putting milk in your coffee in stead of cream saves you 50 calories.
2. Get rid of the butter on your baked potato. Doing so will save 100 calories.
3. Did you know that some refer to a 16 ounce can of pop as liquid candy? Replacing this with flavored water can cut 200 calories per can.
4. You cannot have it your way. Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. Doing so will save your body from ingesting 460 calories. If you just have to have a light salad dressing, this will only add about 100 calories to your salad, and you will still save 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. Not all corn is equal. Did you know that canned corn has 80 more calories than an ear of corn? Which one will you choose from now on?
7. Simply switching to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel will save you around 90 calories per ounce!
8. If you must have French fries, at least order the thick cut. A little known fact is that thin fries actually absorb more grease than the thick cut. This will cut about 50 calories per 4 ounce serving.
Yes, it is true that limiting your caloric intake on a daily basis is a great way to lose weight. However, burning more calories is another great way to lose weight. You can do so by engaging in some of the physical activities outlined below.
1. A 30 minute walk at a brisk pace can do wonders by burning 160 calories.
2. Bike riding is fun. Why not ride for 5 miles and burn 250 calories.
3. Dancing for just 1 hour can burn up to 400 calories!
4. Who does not like to swim here? Swimming is a great way to burn calories and avoid impact on your joints. A few slow laps over the period of an hour will burn over 500 calories.
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.
Are you ready for the good news? The good news is that the above calorie burning numbers are based upon a 130 lb woman. Therefore, if you weigh more, you will burn more calories! Furthermore, when you exercise, you build lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is important because it enables your body to burn more calories while you are motionless (eg. sleeping, sitting at work, etc.), than fat does.
For best results, I highly recommend that you cut back on your calorie intake, and become more active. Just make sure that you do not take in too few calories. If we take in less than 1000 calories per day, our bodies go into a starvation mode, causing our metabolism to slow down drastically. We want our metabolism high, therefore, we must consume enough calories, but not too many.
Just keep your calorie intake in a reasonable range, and exercise consistently. Keep track of both your calorie intake and exercise over the months, and stay motivated. You will see great results.
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