There are a million websites, products, and articles that will tell you how to lose weight. Losing weight does NOT have to be complicated and does NOT have to cost you anything. The goal here is to give you some of the principles behind weight loss. The key to successful weight loss is creating a calorie deficit, taking in fewer calories than you are using or expending. (Practically speaking, calories are the energy in food that your body can either use for fuel or store as fat.)
Creating a calorie deficit
There are 3500 calories in a pound, so you need to create a deficit of 3500 calories over the course of a week to lose 1 pound:
500 calorie deficit/day x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 pound lost/week
1000 calorie deficit/day x 7 days = 7000 calories = 2 pounds lost/week
This deficit can be created by reducing the calories you take in (the amount you eat) or increasing the calories you expend through activity and exercise. The best approach is to do both! Although you can lose weight by only cutting calories, studies show you will have better long-term success if you exercise in addition to eating a healthy diet.
A simple equation?
Is weight loss really this simple? Most people who have tried will tell you it’s not, but the problem often comes with execution. The majority of people who are trying unsuccessfully to lose weight are overestimating what they burn and underestimating what they eat. The challenge is to be consistent with your diet and exercise program. There could be some issues with what and how you are eating and exercising, which I’m going to talk about later this week.
Just as easily as you can create a negative energy balance – the deficit we’re talking about – you can create a positive energy balance, eating more than you burn which will result in weight gain. If you are constantly tottering back and forth, your equation will zero out and you will not see progress. The key is to be consistent in creating a calorie deficit each and every week until you reach your goal.
Filed under: Weight Loss Tagged: | calorie deficit, calories, weight loss
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[...] determine your weight. There are 3500 calories in a pound (read more about weight loss math here), and your weight ultimately reflects what you’ve done over the [...]
[...] determine your weight. There are 3500 calories in a pound (read more about weight loss math here), and your weight ultimately reflects what you’ve done over the [...]
[...] determine your weight. There are 3500 calories in a pound (read more about weight loss math here), and your weight ultimately reflects what you’ve done over the [...]