Doing the math is pretty easy and 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 is roughly 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. 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 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 is how you lose 500 calories a day
*You can use milk in your coffee instead of creamer. Savings? 50 calories per cup.
* Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories
*Drink fruit flavored water rather than soda. Savings? 200 calories
* Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. Have a fresh salad along with a light dressing? Under 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 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.
*Change to a low fat cram cheese spread on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.
* Love those fries and can’t give them up? Switch to the thicker steak cut fries rather than the thinner ones. Thin French fries absorb more oil than the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? For every 4 oz. seving there is 50 calories
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 can that be? Have 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.
*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. The kind of dancing that makes you breathless and that warms up your body will give you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories per hour
*Swimming is something that is great for you to do and a ton of fun as well. 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
* 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. If you and a friend meet up once a week for something like a tennis game you will be amazed at the difference. One hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners 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. Would you like an additional 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. Your right-your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.
For the best results you can combine food savings and exercise techniques that will effeciently burn the calories. You must keep in mind that if you eat less than 1000 calories a day for more than just a few days that you will convince your body that it is starving and it will slow your metabolism down. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Post a Comment