What does it take to lose a pound of weight and keep it off?
How many calories a day can you cut from your diet and not endanger your health?
Find out now.
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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.
RESOURCE BOX: Paul Buckley-for much more weight loss information visit The
Healthy Diet Zone at http://www.healthydietzone.com