A Simple, Easy to Follow Free Weight Loss Tip to Reduce Obesity… Without Compromising Your Health!

A pound of fat represents approximately 3500 calories of stored energy. So 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 for weight loss, remember that your body is a thinking organism designed to protect itself.

So it only stands to reason that if your weight loss plan was to reduce your intake by the entire 3500 calories in one day, your body would register some type of alarm, thinking that there was a state of emergency.

As a result, your metabolism would immediately slow down and no weight loss or reduction in obesity would be achieved. This is why crash diets where you starve yourself for a few days so you can fit into your best clothes DO NOT work.

The only thing you’re achieving is risking your health!

It's better to spread our your weight loss so that you aim to reduce your calorie intake by 3500 to 7000 calories over a period of a 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, as attempting to do so may result in health risks, plus the odds are that it is unlikely you will be successful anyway!

A better solution of attempting to lose two pounds per week is to 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. Then subtract 500 calories from that amount and follow a weight loss diet that provides you with that many calories.

For example, if you would ordinarily need 3000 calories in a day, you would need to follow a 2500 calorie a day weight loss plan. Next, figure out how much exercise a person of your weight would need to do to burn 500 calories per day, then simply engage in a specific weight loss 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 of weight loss!

Although individual weight loss results may vary from person to person, the bottom line is that if your body is consuming fewer calories than it's expending, then weight will be lost.

How to Calculate Your Daily Needs to Develop your Weight Loss Plan

In order to eat fewer calories than you need, you first have to determine how many calories your body actually needs or your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Adults can calculate their approximate energy needs using the following formula:

A. Body weight multiplied by 12 for men and 11 for women…
e.g., 150 lbs. x 12 = 1800

B. Activity equals one-third of your body weight, multiplied by the number
of hours you don't sleep, typically 16 hours…
ie, 150 lbs. x 1/3 = 50 x 16 = 800

C. Required calories per day equals A + B…
ie, 1800 + 800 = 2600 calories

Thus, we determine that a 150-pound man requires approximately 2600 calories per day.

The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories a man of that weight would burn just to keep the heart beating, the lungs pumping, etc. In other words, you would burn your Basal Metabolic Rate worth of calories if you just slept all day. Thus the above "Activity" calculation is approximately the amount of calories a person would expend by spending his or her whole day sitting around.

If you’re engaging in activities other than sitting all day, you can increase your activity hours by the number of hours you are actually active.

Adult females can calculate their approximate energy needs using the same formula, except that the Basal Metabolic Rate is determined by multiplying body weight by 11 times, instead of 12.

If you would like to find out your BMR, here is a free tool that will do the calculations for you in an instant... Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator

Here's another great free tool that calculates the estimated amount of calories you burn at a given running pace. This is great to know when walking, jogging or running outside. All you need is a stop watch to time how long you've been exercising. Most treadmills calculate this for you, but if you are running outside you have no way of knowing how many calories you've just burnt.

Check it out towards the bottom of this page... Calories Burnt Calculator

Children and teenagers require more calories by body weight, but the amount varies by age and by individual child. It is best to consult a physician before altering a child’s diet, however an increase in activity and exercise won’t hurt the average youth of today. In fact it will have some major benefits for controlling childhood obesity.

Overall, this gives you a general idea of what a calorie is, how it relates to your weight loss, and how the body turns calories into fat. This of course is not a complete weight loss diet plan, however understanding your body is a definite prerequisite to making the changes necessary to conquer obesity and to achieve weight loss!