Doing the math is pretty easy and simple. One pound of fat equals 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.
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 is how you lose 500 calories a day
* Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup.
* You really don’t need butter on the 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? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories
* Pass by the bag of potato chips. The average snack 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.
*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? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. The thinner frech fries absorb a whole lot more oil than the thicker 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 can that be? Take 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.
*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 for one hour
*Swimming is something that is great for you to do and a ton of fun as well. 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
* 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, you’ll burn more fat. Want an added 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 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.
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