"Fitness is a journey not a destination. It must be continued for the rest of your life"
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Body Mass Index -- BMI is one of many ways to determine your ideal weight. Calculate it here.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio--How to Calculate your Waist-to-Hip Ratio
NEW--Weight Loss Plateaus and Pitfalls --After a few months on a weight-loss program, have you suddenly stopped seeing results?
NEW--Spot Reduction --Does it really work?
NEW--Top 10 Nutritional Mistakes Made by Active People
NEW--Cholesterol. What is it? Is it good or bad? What should my levels be? How to lower it? And more.
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Most experts recommend that someone attempting to lose a large amount of weight consult with a personal physician or health care professional before beginning a weight-loss program.
The Surgeon General’s Healthy Weight Advice for Consumers makes the following general recommendations for achieving a healthy weight:
Aim for a healthy weight. People who need to lose weight should do so gradually, at a rate of one-half to two pounds per week.
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Be active. The safest and most effective way to lose weight is to reduce calories and increase physical activity.
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Eat well. Select sensible portion sizes and follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
How Many Calories Do Adults Need?
How many calories you need depends on various factors, including height, total body weight, ratio of fat to muscle, age, gender, genes and physical exercise. (Plus illness, pregnancy for women etc.) But usually, a person's calorie needs can be reasonably accurately assessed by focusing on two calorie components. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and physical exercise.
To automatically calculate your calorie needs click: Adult BMI and Calorie Calculator
Basal Metabolic Rate is a short way of saying: "the amount of energy (calories) you need to keep your body functioning while at rest." A body needs a minimum number of calories to maintain the millions of chemical reactions which keep eyes, lungs, heart, liver, kidneys etc. in healthy working order and to maintain normal functions, like heart beat, respiration and normal body temperature. Put another way, your BMR is the energy expended by your body. Your BMR usually accounts for about 60-70% of your calorie requirements. Typically, your BMR will peak at the age of 20 and gradually decrease by approximately 2 percent per decade, due in part to inactivity and subsequent loss of muscle tissue.
The second major calorie component is physical exercise or activity. The more exercise you take, the more calories you burn.
Body Weight and Body Fat
Body weight may be divided into three types: bones, muscle and fat. In a healthy female of average weight, bones make up 12 percent of total body weight, muscle/lean tissue about 35 percent and body fat about 27 percent. The remaining body weight is skin, connective tissue, tendons, blood, organs and so forth.
Body Fat is Lighter Than Muscle by Volume
Fat is lighter by volume than lean body tissue. For example, a 'cup' of fat is lighter than a 'cup' of muscle. This explains why increased physical exercise (which builds muscle) may actually cause weight gain rather than weight loss - at least to begin with.
Calories and Weight Loss
One pound of body weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. So in order to lose one pound of weight, we need to create a calorie-deficit of 3500 calories.
We can do this by increasing our calorie expenditure, by reducing our calorie intake, or (best) by a combination of both.
Example:
Suppose you need 2000 calories a day, in order to maintain your present weight.
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To lose one pound a week, you need to cut your daily calorie intake to 1500 calories.
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Over 7 days, this adds up to 3500 calories.
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The same result can be achieved by increasing your exercise by 200 calories/day, and reducing your calorie-intake by 300 calories/day.
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That said, a combination of calorie-reduction and increased exercise makes weight loss easier to sustain.
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Calorie Savings or Diet
In order to reduce your calorie intake, you may decide to follow a reduced-calorie diet. If so, do not eat fewer than 1,100 calories per day unless approved by your doctor.
Another method of reducing calories is to make calorie-savings by substituting lower calorie food-choices for higher-calorie ones. This tends to be a slower method of losing weight but it can still be effective. Also, it eliminates the stress of following a formal weight loss diet plan with all the anxiety of possible failure.
Avoid Fat-Burners, Fat-Burning Pills
If you want to burn calories and lose weight, do it naturally! Please avoid all amphetamine or metabolic boosters - these diet-supplements won't help you to burn calories or lose weight for long, and they can be unhealthy. Instead, take physical exercise!
Best Exercise to Burn Calories and Lose Weight
Good choices of exercise for burning calories is cardio-aerobic. Jogging, cycling, power-walking, swimming, aerobic dancing or general aerobic workouts. I believe the "best" aerobic exercise is one you like, that way you'll be more likely to stick to it. However, strength-training is also important to increase muscle-fat ratio.
When you burn extra calories, you lose weight much easier.
For example, burning calories...
Helps you to lose weight from the start
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Helps you to lose weight by overcoming any weight loss plateau
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Helps you to lose weight during menopause
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Helps you to lose weight if you have hypothyroidism
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Helps you to lose weight if you are only a few pounds overweight
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