How to Lose Weight without Sacrificing Your Health: The Truth About Calories
Too many times have individuals taken the term “lose weight” and spun it off for an excuse to use diet pills, binge diets or any other unhealthy method available instead of focusing on healthy weight loss. The fact of the matter is, losing weight is supposed to be a healthy lifestyle change – not something that sacrifices your overall health.
It’s Not What You Lose
Too many advertisements have showcased that its “cool” to lose a lot of pounds in a short amount of time. So many individuals have forgotten that it’s not about the number of pounds you lose or how fast you lose it, but how you lose it instead. Weight loss and a healthy lifestyle is about promoting strength, agility, balance, flexibility and functionality to the body – none of which has to do with losing 100 pounds in 60 days. Those looking for solutions on how to lose weight should focus on the healthy alternatives, rather than the quick-fixes that ultimately don’t take in the long run.
Your Weight Loss Solution is not in a Pill
Though commercials about weight loss are on every corner promoting rapid weight loss through a magic pill, the reality is there is no such thing. Healthy weight loss is about:
· Understanding calories
· Understanding your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
· Understanding your activity level
The Real Facts on Weight Loss | How To Lose Weight
To lose one pound of fat (fat, not weight in general), you must burn approximately 3,500 calories above what your body already burns during its regular activities. That means in order to lose weight you have to know your caloric intake, know how much it takes to burn it and assess what your activity level is doing for you now.
Your Daily Caloric Intake by BMR
The first step for how to lose weight is calculating how many calories you need to take in each day, known as your daily caloric intake. This number is the number of calories your body needs each day in order to just maintain the current weight you have. To determine how many calories you need each day, you need to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (or BMR).
The basic calculation for a BMR consists of:
Women: 655 + (weight in pounds multiplied by 4.35) + (height inches multiplied by 4.7) – (age multiplied by 4.7) = TOTAL BMR
Men: 66 + (weight in pounds multiplied by 6.23) + (height inches multiplied by 12.7) – (age multiplied by 6.8) = TOTAL BMR
If calculations are not your forte, there are numerous online BMR calculators that will help you determine your base BMR for healthy weight loss. Remember that factors such as gender, age, weight, height and activity level are all important for an accurate BMR calculation.
Track Your Calories
One of the best methods for how to lose weight is to look at how many calories you already eat daily. Most likely you are eating more than enough (if not double) your daily caloric intake. Use a food journal for one week to keep track of calories you consume, including beverages.
Determine Your Activity Level | How To Lose Weight
Use a calorie calculator to help determine how many calories your body is burning on a daily basis. This is the only way to ensure healthy weight loss and ultimately, burn more calories than you consume. An easier option to tracking your daily caloric burn is to wear a heart rate monitor for one week. Most heart rate monitors will calculate calories burned for the day based on daily activities and the weight amount you enter into the monitor before use.
Do Some Math
A person cannot learn how to lose weight without a little math. Healthy weight loss relies on a calculation of a person’s BMR, calories and activity level.
Take your BMR calories and subtract the calories burned from activities. Subtract the total number of calories you consumed that day from the remaining total. If you arrive at a negative number, then you are eating more calories than your body burns, resulting in weight gain – not loss. The goal is to have calories left over after activity, BMR and daily intake, which will result in healthy weight loss.
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