|
|
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. 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. 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 exactly IS
500 calories? If you're going to reduce your daily intake by 500
calories, it helps to know what you need to cut out, right?
Here's how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day: * Use milk
instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup. *
Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories *
Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings?
200 calories * Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big
Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. A fresh salad with a
light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories * Pass by
the bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has
over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories * Eat your corn on the
ear. A 1 cup serving of canned corn has 165 calories. 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. Thin French fries absorb more oil than
the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce
serving If you'd rather look at losing weight from an exercise
perspective, you can also lose one pound a week by upping your
activity level by 500 calories a day. How easy is that to do?
Take a look: * Take 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. * Get out your bike and
take a 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.
Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will
net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one 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. Do a
few laps at a slow crawl - if you can get up to an hour you'll
be doing great! 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. Hook up with a friend for a
weekly tennis game and you'll be amazed at the difference. One
hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners
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, you'll burn more. Want an added bonus
to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you
build muscle by converting it from fat. 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. Michael
Contaro http://weight-loss.atoz
online.com/
About the author:
Visit my web site at http://weight-loss.atozo
nline.com
|
|
|
