Weight lose requires committing to a plan. Keeping it simple increases your chances of success.
When it comes to weight loss, there really is only one way to lose and successfully keep weight off. There are thousands of weight loss books, hundreds of diet plans and millions of overweight or obese Americans. If you add it all up, it equates to society looking for magical solutions to a serious problem, weight gain! Not understanding how the body uses and stores energy has led to many unsuccessful attempts at body composition alteration (reduction of body fat). How do we address excessive weight gain?
If you research what works and what does not, you will inevitably find out the pills, fad diets and various other fat melting products are at best a mirage. At first glance it appears as though these products can deliver fat reduction, lean muscle and shapely bodies but closer observation will reveal the truth: they are but a mirage in the ever-expanding desert of weight-loss mumbo-jumbo. Alas, we trudge along hoping to find a true oasis where weight loss really does exist - you won’t find it there.
True body composition alteration and maintenance is achieved through self-commitment and consistency. Calorie intake (food consumed) and calorie expenditure (calories burned) should be calculated to determine disparities. Your body requires a specific number of calories (energy) each day to sustain life and perform your daily functions. If you consume more calories than necessary to meet these needs, the surplus is stored as fat.
If you are overweight, barring a medical condition, it is probably safe to say that you have been consuming more calories than you require. Eliminating surplus weight will require calorie conscious eating, physical activity, consistency and patience; this is the only way to the true oasis in the desert .
The plan:
1. Determine how many calories you require each day; this is based on sex, Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), weight and activity level. The formula we will use here is fairly simple but it will give you a good idea of how many calories you should be consuming per day.
Sedentary: weight x 14 = estimated cal/day
Moderately active:(2-3 workouts per week): weight x 17 = estimated cal/day
Active:(5 or more workout per week):weight x 20 = estimated cal/day
2. Once you have established your caloric needs for a day, keep a journal of everything eaten each day, at least initially, to count calories and determine if you have unconscious eating patterns. A journal will help track the times, amounts, moods (some people are emotional eaters, others eat unconsciously) and foods eaten. Your goal should be to use/burn more calories than you consume each day.
3. Keeping your goal in mind, ideally, each day should include 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity. If you are not meeting activity level goals, cutting your calories by 100 per day (3500 calories = 1 pound equates to10 pounds per year) will still allow you to lose weight. By simply walking 30 minutes per day you can burn an additional 100 to 200 calories. That’s an additional 10 to 20 pounds per year!
“All that I achieve and all that I fail to achieve is the direct result of my own thoughts” – James Allen
