Understanding Weight Loss

A pound of fat represents approximately 3500 calories of storedenergy. In order to lose a pound of fat, you have to use 3500more calories than you consume. Although this seems like asimple formula remember that your body is a thinking organismdesigned to protect itself.

If you were to try to reduce your intake by the entire 3500 calories in one day, your body would register some type ofalarm and think that there is a state of emergency. Immediately your metabolism would slow down and no weight loss would be achieved.

It's better to spread your weight loss out over a period of a week, so that you aim to reduce your caloric intake by 3500 to 7000 calories per week, resulting in weight loss of one to two pounds per week. It's generally not recommended to try to lose more than two pounds in a week. Attempting to do so may cause health risks, and on top of this you're unlikely to be successful.

In the example of attempting to lose two pounds per week, youcan use a basic method of calorie counting to help youaccomplish your goal. To do so, you need to figure out how manycalories a person of your age, sex, and weight usually needs ina day, subtract 500 from that amount, and follow a diet thatprovides you with that many calories.

For example, if you would ordinarily need 3000 calories in aday, you would follow a 2500-calorie a day diet. Next, figure out how much exercise a person of your weight would need to do to burn 500 calories per day, and engage in an exercise plan that will help you achieve your goal.

The result is simple: 500 fewer calories consumed and 500more calories expended equals a 1000 calorie per day deficit,which, over the course of a week adds up to 7000 calories, ortwo pounds. Although individual results may vary, the bottomline is if your body is consuming fewer calories than it'sexpending, then weight will be lost.

*********************************************************************
Ken Shorey is owner of http://vibranthealthnow.com
VibrantHealthnow.com provides ebooks and informationto help you improve your health.
*********************************************************************