Fat Loss

The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat is the equivalent to 3500 calories. Would you like to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That’s about 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week.

All right - that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you’re more than 25 pounds overweight. Studies have shown that those who lose 1-2 pounds a week, are more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for the rest of their life.

So how much is 500 calories exactly? If you are going to reduce your intake of calories but 500 a day, you need to know what to cut out? Here’s how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day:

*You can use milk in your coffee instead of creamer. Savings? 50 calories in each cup.

* Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories

* Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings? 200 calories

* Have a salad instead of that tempting Big Mac. The Big Mac equals 460 calories. Have a fresh salad along with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories

*You can walk right by that bag of potato chips. The average snack bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories

* Eat your corn on the ear. There is 165 calories for every 1 cup serving of canned corn. An ear of corn has 85. Savings? 80 calories.

* Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.

* Love those fries and can’t give them up? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. The thinner frech fries absorb a whole lot more oil than the thicker ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

You cna also lose one pound a week if you up your activity level by 500 calories, if you want to look at it from a exercise perspective. How easy can that be? Have a look:

*Go for a half hour walk around the park. Aim for a pace that’s a little faster than a stroll, but not fast enough to be breathless. Burn:160 calories.

*Go for a bicycle ride. Aim for about five miles total and if you feel like it you can take on a few moderate hills. Burn: 250 calories

* Go out and dance your heart out. The longer you’re out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you’ll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories per hour

* Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. A few laps as a slow crawl is wonderufl-if you can get up to an hour you’ll be doing even better! Burn: 510 calories

* Get out into your garden. An hour of gardening tasks that includes bending and stretching can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.

* Play a game of tennis. If you and a friend meet up once a week for something like a tennis game you will be amazed at the difference. An hour of vigorous tennis is one of the most effective calorie burners that are around. Burn: 800 calories

Keep in mind that all of the exercise and calorie numbers are based on a woman’s weight of 130 pounds. If you weigh more then you will definately burn more fat. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? You turn fat into muscle whenever you exercise. Do you know which kind of body tissue burns more calories-even when your not excersing? I’ll give you three guesses. You got it - your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For best results, mix and match food savings with exercises that burn calories. Do keep in mind that eating less than 1000 calories a day for more than a few days will convince your body that it’s starving and slow your metabolism. You need to keep your calorie ranges simpmle, and if you seek a more drastic weight loss measure consult your doctor.

People who need to lose weight are constantly searching for diets that work. It’s not really difficult to find weight loss plans that are effective, but finding a program a person can stay with is the problem. The diet industry is very large. With books, diet food programs, trainers and nutritionists, spas, and all the other elements of the health and diet industry a lot of money, over 46.8 billion dollars in 2005, is earned not from people becoming healthy or losing weight, but rather from people trying to become healthy or lose weight. Because repeat business brings in the cash, the focus is surely on the yo-yo reality of bad living followed by short periods of diets and health programs.

Here’s a diet that works. Combine limiting caloric intake to 1000 calories each day with at least 30 minutes of exercise at least five times a week. It’s a given you’ll lose pounds. But there are two issues. The first is that cravings are likely to foil the diet. Sooner or later, particularly after returning home from work outs, those 1000 calories won’t be sufficient to satisfy. One piece of cake, or just one bag of chips, or one extra hot dog will soon motivate you to ending the diet. #2 the diet eventually ends. You soon go back to eating the identical old way. Next spring, or next fancy dress occasion, or next family trip, or simply the next time you glance at a looking glass on the way out of the bathroom it will be once again be diet time.

The best diet is one making a change to overall diet, permanently. More and more people now understand that to lose weight it’s best to change lifestyle, including healthier eating habits and more physical activity. The Sonoma Diet, created by Connie Guttersen, discusses 10 “power foods.” The power foods are almonds, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, grapes, olive oil, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes and whole grains, combined with the diet of the Sonoma country, which includes Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean foods and dishes. The diet is full of real food, and real portions, combined into enjoyable dishes to help motivate someone to stay with it .

Want a diet that works for healthy weight loss? Move your mind from a short term diet to permanent eating habits that go along with an overall healthy and active lifestyle. That way you won’t put on the pounds in the first place.