A Simple Plan To Lose Weight and Burn Fat
Olivia on May 22 2009 at 4:07 pm | Filed under: Women's Health
The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? You will need to intake 3500 calories less a 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.
I know that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you are over 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 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 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. The Big Mac equals 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 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 french fries and have a hard time giving 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
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 is that to do? 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. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories
* Go out and dance your heart out. The longer you are out dancing on the dance floor, you wont be at the table drinking those high calorie fruit drinks and the more calories you will burn. 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 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. 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 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
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 fat. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you build muscle by converting it from fat. 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 the best results you can combine food savings and exercise techniques that will effeciently burn the 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.
