Has anyone ever told you that you can lose weight without much effort, if you would only take this supplement or try that piece of equipment? If so, you’re being fed some rubbish. It is unfortunate that many weight loss aid companies base their marketing strategies on the “effortless” qualities of their products. The reality however is: Weight loss takes a lot of effort — to make it happen and to keep it off.
For the majority, weight is easy to gain but very difficult to lose. To lose weight, one must have the determination and the discipline to start and stick to a diet plan and exercise program. Once started, however, you begin to see a world of change – you start to feel better; your body changes for the better; and because you are stronger, losing weight doesn’t seem too daunting a task after a while.
There is no miracle cure to obesity or excess poundage. There is no going around diet and exercise. Losing weight, however, doesn’t have to seem so daunting. Small but significant changes in lifestyle can get you well underway to a lighter, healthier, and fitter you.
Look to our Ideal Weight Calculator to determine your optimal body weight. The calculator takes factors such as your height, gender and frame size as determinants of your ideal weight range. Generally for men, 106 lbs. is the ideal weight for a five-footer. Six pounds should be added for every inch thereafter. For women standing five feet, 100 lbs. is the ideal weight; every inch over five feet entails more or less five pounds more.
In order to get to your optimal weight range, you need to know how much calories you need to consume to maintain the ideal weight. Once you have your goal weight, multiply this number by another in the range of 10 to 18 to get the number of calories you just need to maintain your daily energy needs. Once you have the number, plan your meals and exercises around a calorie deficit of 500 a day in order to lose at safe rate of a pound a week.
You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. A daily subtraction of 500 calories from your ideal calorie intake will result in a 3,500 calorie deficit for a week (500 calories x 7 days= 3,500 calories), causing a 1 pound drop for that week.
Remember the safe weight loss rate is 1 to 2 pounds per week. Over this rate, you will be losing pounds too rapidly and at an unhealthy pace. Your body may go into starvation mode, significantly slowing down your metabolism; so control your weight loss rate.
Once you’ve figured out your daily calorie allotment, divide its consumption into six small meals to tide you throughout the day. This way, you don’t get to skip meals and go hungry. Small meals rev up the metabolism and maintain your energy levels. Make sure your calories come from nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meat and the like.
You can’t just rely on diet alone to lose weight. Get off that couch and help achieve your daily caloric deficit by exercising. When we mean exercise, we mean moderate to vigorous exercise, depending on your fitness level. Combine resistance training and cardiovascular workouts in a week. Cardio workouts such as brisk walking, jogging and swimming burn calories fast. Strength training builds the muscle mass needed to increase your resting metabolic rate so that you inner furnace can burn a good amount of calories even when you are at rest.