Submitted by Calorie Counter on 22 June, 2011 - 11:21am
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Losing weight requires one simple strategy and that is to maintain a daily calorie deficit. Sounds simple, right? Well, actually it is.
What is a calorie deficit?
Every person has a BMR (basal metabolic rate). This is the rate at which you burn calories at rest. Age and gender largely determine BMR (to find out how many calories you burn each day see this daily calorie table).
As you can see, the amount of calories you burn each day depends on age, gender and activity levels. If your daily calorie intake matches your requirements then you will neither gain nor lose weight. If you consume too many calories, you will gain weight. If you consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain weight, you lose weight.
Losing weight requires you to consume fewer calories than your daily calorie requirement. Also, the size of the calorie deficit required to lose a specific amount of weight is known as it is based on some basic human biology. As a general rule, to lose one pound of body fat each week you need to maintain a daily calorie deficit of 500 Calories. To lose two pounds a week, you need to double that to 1000 Calories.
There are of course two ways to create a calorie deficit:
- Consume fewer calories each day
- Exercise more to burn more calories
In fact, to lose weight you have to do both of these. Consuming less is straight forward, but when we eat less we naturally become less active. This lowers BMR.
When we exercise, we burn additional calories through increased respiration and then more calories afterwards (the after burn effect) while our bodies are recovering. Also, in the longer term as we build more muscle, we raise our metabolism, meaning that our daily calorie requirement increases.
An average fitness class burns around 300 Calories, longer and more intensive classes can burn 500-700 Calories. So if you wish to lose two pounds a week, performing a fitness class each day and reducing Calories by 500 will in theory lead to the desired weight loss.
There are other tricks to help you lose weight too, such as avoiding high-GI food (Glycemic Index), which includes all soda, junk food, chocolate and white bread (also, all these foods are high-calorie foods, consumption of which leads to increased fat accumulation).
If you work out every day and consume only healthy low-GI foods and lean protein, this helps you to manage calories and hormone levels, which affect appetite, and get all the important nutrients to get fitter, stronger and healthier.
About the author: Jon Wade is the author of the popular guide How to Lose Belly Fat, and he believes that weight loss is possible for everyone through a combination of increased physical activity and a healthy diet plan.
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