Many people have the wrong idea about losing weight. They believe that they can still eat what they eat now and lose weight or that if they just start exercising that they will lose weight. This is where people go wrong. The key to weight loss is simple: a healthy diet and exercise. They both work together like magic. There are some steps you have to take before you start your weight loss, and there are steps you should follow when you're losing the weight. This article will explain weight loss and the key points to follow.
BMI
This means “Body Mass Index”. It's a calculation that determines your expected weight based on your age and height group. If you do a search in google, you should be able to find a good BMI calculator. Determining your BMI is your first step in determining if you actually need to lose weight or just turn fat to muscle.
BMR
This means “Basic Metabolic Rate”. It tells you how many calories your body burns without any physical activity. Your body needs a certain amount of calories every day to run, and the BMR determines exactly that. This step determines how many calories you need to cut back on, if any.
Calorie Intake
This is where losing weight begins. Calories are the measurements of energy in any one particular food. There are approximately 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. That means if you cut back 3,500 calories in every week, you will lose approximately one pound of fat per week. That means about 500 calories per day. For example, my BMR is 1,400. So if I cut back 500 calories a day (that puts me back at around 900 calories a day) for a week, then I would lose one pound per week.
Cutting back below 1,200 calories a day is unhealthy if you are not being supervised by a doctor, so my suggestion is to start slow. One thing to keep in mind is that weight loss is a slow process that takes time. You didn't gain the weight overnight, you aren't going to lose it overnight. You can only safely lose 1-3 pounds of fat per week. Any more than that is either going to be water weight or muscle. Water weight is gained back quickly, and therefore, you should aim to lose about 3 pound per week.
To find how many calories to cut back on per week, determine your BMR. This is an estimation of how many calories you burn in one day. If you want to lose one pound per week, you have to cut back 3,500 calories per week. If your BMR is 2,000, for example, losing one pound a week would mean dropping 500 calories a day (3,500 divided by 7). That brings you to eating 1,500 calories a day, and therefore you lose one pound of fat per week.
Exercise
This is a key factor in losing weight and gaining muscle quickly. There is no quicker way to lose weight than exercising. If you search online for how many calories are burned during an activity, then you can determine how to lose weight quicker, or how to not cut back on what you eat. If you burn 500 calories a day, that means you can still eat 2,000 calories a day and still lose weight. Exercise is generally most effective while dieting, and will not work as quickly if you eat fatty foods and don't exercise regularly.
Food/Exercise Journal
Keeping some kind of journal is going to be your most useful tool throughout weight loss. When you eat a food, write it down, and this way you can guarantee that you won't go over your calorie limit for the day. Also, writing down how long you exercised for so that you can determine how many calories you burned will also help you throughout weight loss.
So, the key is, eat less, and exercise more. These two things will help you lose weight and keep it off. Remember, exercise, though not required for weight loss, will help keep your weight off and help keep your body healthy. It will also keep your muscles big and strong. Exercise is the top recommended tip for keeping a healthy lifestyle. Now that you know how, go and shed those pounds. You want to be looking at your best when beach season comes 'round…
