Weight Loss – Simple Lessons for Sustained Success

Weight loss is a goal for many people today, but cutting
through all the hype and getting quality information can be
difficult. This article will give you information on your
metabolism, nutrition, and exercise that you can use to evaluate
weight loss programs that you may be considering, or to create
your own. For healthy, effective, and sustained weight loss you
need to be educated about how your body’s metabolism works.

Your Body Does Basic Math

One of the most important factors that directly impacts weight
loss is a concept called “energy balance.” Quite simply, this is
a measure of whether a person has eaten more calories than they
burned that day, or vice versa. Because of all the scientific
jargon, it can be baffling to read detailed descriptions of how
your body and metabolism work. But when it comes to weight loss,
all you need to know is that your metabolism does basic math –
addition and subtraction; calories eaten and calories burned.

• Neutral energy balance – eating the same number of
  calories as you burn every day
• Positive energy balance –
  eating more calories than you burn every day
• Negative
  energy balance – eating fewer calories than you burn every
  day

• In order to begin healthy, effective weight loss, you need to
  achieve negative energy balance. There are two primary ways to
  do this – daily diet and exercise. We’ll take a closer look at
  each very shortly.

  However, it is important to note that most people who are aiming
  for moderate weight loss should not tip the scales too
  drastically into negative energy balance. For instance, if your
  daily activities result in 2000 calories burned per day,
  restricting your calorie intake to 800 calories per day would be
  excessive. You would lose weight, but probably not in the way
  you intended. Your body would see this drastic calorie
  restriction as starvation, and would begin hoarding body fat and
  burning muscle, in addition to losing valuable fluids and
  electrolytes, which is exactly the opposite of what you are
  hoping to achieve.

  If you are at neutral energy balance and have moderate weight
  loss goals, then a calorie restriction of 500 calories per day
  will produce healthy, gradual weight loss. Be sure to consult
  your physician regarding appropriate levels of calorie
  restriction and activity if your weight loss goals are very
  aggressive.

  Nutrition

  There are two main factors that you should consider when
  evaluating your daily diet – total calories and composition. The
  term “total calories” is as simple as it sounds – the number of
  calories you have consumed in a given day. If you’re already
  mindful of the total quantity of food you eat each day, and are
  good at estimating serving sizes, you’re in a good position to
  determine where your current energy balance is, and monitor it
  as you progress. If not, it can be useful to purchase an
  inexpensive kitchen scale to get a better idea of how big a
  serving that you consider “average” really is. You need to know
  how many calories you’re eating on a daily basis in order to
  know where you can make improvements.

  The composition of your diet is also very important. With all
  the competing diet programs out there, it can be difficult to
  separate the science from the hype. The guidelines in the USDA’s
  new food pyramid, called MyPyramid, are very helpful
  in identifying good food choices – whole grain carbohydrates
  instead of processed carbs (whole wheat bread rather than
  white), lean instead of high-fat protein sources (chicken
  instead of prime rib), and healthy sources of fat (olive oil
  instead of Crisco). These guidelines will serve you well in
  formulating a daily diet that will keep you well-nourished with
  sustained energy levels and feeling your best over the long
  term.

  Again, if working all the specifics out on your own seems
  difficult, there are high-quality programs available that help
  you specify meal composition, serving size, timing of meals and
  snacks, and even provide you with a shopping list. These
  programs can be helpful and convenient, but they are not
  absolutely necessary to achieve your weight loss goals.

  Exercise

  Exercise is a very important component of any well-balanced
  weight loss program. In its Guidelines
  for Healthy Aerobic Activity, the American College of Sports
  Medicine recommends 30 to 45 minutes of moderate aerobic
  activity performed 3 to 5 times per week. This can be as simple
  as taking a brisk walk through your neighborhood.

  With this as a “base” of aerobic activity, weight training can
  be an excellent way to burn more calories and encourage
  development of lean muscle tissue, which burns additional
  calories even when you’re sleeping! However, it’s important to
  get qualified instruction in how to perform weight training in
  order to ensure that you are performing the exercises correctly,
  and not putting yourself at risk of injury.

  Another key element in the exercise equation is moderation. If
  you haven’t worked out in a year, you should not set a goal of
  running for an hour a day, five days a week. Begin moderately
  and allow your body to become accustomed to this new routine.
  When you’re used to walking briskly for 30 minutes three days
  per week, consider increasing to four days per week, and so
  forth.

  Regardless of what specific kind of exercise you choose, if you
  perform it safely, moderately, and most
  important, regularly, you will be in a much better
  position to achieve your weight loss goals. Remember, the goal
  is negative energy balance and exercise is another tool to get
  you there. If your daily goal is a 500 calorie negative energy
  balance, it can be much more pleasant to exercise 200 calories
  away, and only have to restrict your diet by 300 calories.

  Conclusion

  Successfully combining a healthy diet and exercise program is
  the best way to achieve and sustain your weight-loss goals. A
  pound of fat represents approximately 3500 stored calories.
  Using the above example of a 500 calorie negative energy
  balance, over the course of a week you would lose approximately
  one pound, for a total of around 4 pounds per month. Experts
  agree that this is a healthy rate of weight loss. More
  importantly, by taking a gradual approach, you are teaching
  yourself something far more important, which is behavior
  modification.

  Crash diets may promise that you will lose five pounds a week,
  but if you revert to the same patterns of behavior that you were
  accustomed to before you started your diet, you’ll gain the
  weight right back. No one becomes overweight overnight, so you
  shouldn’t expect to lose the weight overnight either. Allow your
  body to become accustomed to healthy new habits, so you can
  sustain your success over the long term.

  Liz Smith writes about weight loss for
  thedietchannel.com

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