Health Articles
Understanding Weight Loss
by: Ken Shorey
A pound of fat represents approximately 3500 calories
of stored energy. In order to lose a pound of fat, you
have to use 3500 more calories than you consume. Although
this seems like a simple formula remember that your body
is a thinking organism designed to protect itself.
If you were to try to reduce your intake by the entire
3500 calories in one day, your body would register some
type of alarm and think that there is a state of emergency.
Immediately your metabolism would slow down and no weight
loss would be achieved.
It's better to spread your weight loss out over a period
of a week, so that you aim to reduce your caloric intake
by 3500 to 7000 calories per week, resulting in weight
loss of one to two pounds per week. It's generally not
recommended to try to lose more than two pounds in a week.
Attempting to do so may cause health risks, and on top
of this you're unlikely to be successful.
In the example of attempting to lose two pounds per week,
you can use a basic method of calorie counting to help
you accomplish your goal. To do so, you need to figure
out how many calories a person of your age, sex, and weight
usually needs in a day, subtract 500 from that amount,
and follow a diet that provides you with that many calories.
For example, if you would ordinarily need 3000 calories
in a day, you would follow a 2500-calorie a day diet.
Next, figure out how much exercise a person of your weight
would need to do to burn 500 calories per day, and engage
in an exercise plan that will help you achieve your goal.
The result is simple: 500 fewer calories consumed and
500 more calories expended equals a 1000 calorie per day
deficit, which, over the course of a week adds up to 7000
calories, or two pounds. Although individual results may
vary, the bottom line is if your body is consuming fewer
calories than it's expending, then weight will be lost.
About the Author
Ken Shorey is owner of http://vibranthealthnow.com
VibrantHealthnow.com provides ebooks and information to
help you improve your health. |
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