A Simple Plan To Lose Weight and Burn Fat
The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want 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. You can lose one pound per week if you cut 500 calories from your normal daily diet and keep your activity level the same.
All right - that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you’re more than 25 pounds overweight. Study after study has shown, though, that those people who lose weight gradually - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week -are far more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for a lifetime.
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 is how you lose 500 calories a day
* Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. 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. A fresh salad with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories
*You can walk right by that bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories
*Eat 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:
* Take a half-hour walk around the park. You need to aim for a pace that is little fater than a stroll, but not too fast, you don’t want to get breathless. Burn:160 calories.
*Go for a bicycle ride. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories
* Go dancing - and really DANCE. 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. The kind of dancing that makes you breathless and that warms up your body will give you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour
* Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The resistance in the water means that you will be bale to burn more calories dancing or walking in it and you will avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics. 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
* You should get out and do some gardening. An hour of working in your garden (i.e. bending over, and stretching) can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.
*Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you’ll be amazed at the difference. An hour of vigorous tennis is one of the most effective calorie burners that are around. Burn: 800 calories
It’s important to keep in mind that all exercise/calorie numbers are based on a woman weighing 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. Three guesses which kind of body tissue burns more calories - even when you’re not exercising. 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. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.
Tags: fast weight loss, healthy weight loss, lose weight, lose weight fast, simple weight loss, weight loss