Doing the math is pretty easy and 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 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.
I know that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you are over 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:
*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 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. The average snack 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. Every ear of corn has 85 calories in them. Savings? 80 calories.
*Change to a low fat cram cheese spread 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? 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 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.
* 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 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. 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. 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. Would you like an additional bonus to burning calories through exercise? You turn fat into muscle whenever you exercise. 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. 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.