The Mathematics Behind Losing Weight

By Carolyn Rachel Smith

The secret of weight loss is not a secret at all - it is all in the math. If you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight, if you ingest more calories then you work off you gain it. A healthy body weight relies on balancing income and out go of calories.

So here is the math:

One must burn an extra 3,500 calories from what they ingest to lose a pound fat. Sound like a lot doesn't it? Well really, it isn't that much, and it actually doesn't take an extreme amount of effort to create a 3,500 caloric deficit. If you can cut 250-500 calories out of your diet on a daily basis, and expend an extra 500 calories through some type of exercise, you will easily be able to shed a pound a week if not two.

If you only lose a pound a week, you will lose 4 pounds a month, eight pounds in two months, twelve the next, Etc.

If you loose two pounds in a week, you can lose up to 24 pounds in three months.

All of the weight loss programs use these numbers to help you lose weight. By buying their food, they simply make it easier to consume the proper amount of calories without thinking about it. And they will always suggest that you exercise.

Speaking of exercise, here is the math on that:

• Walking for an hour burns 200-250 calories approx.
• Bicycling for and hour burns 500-600 calories approx.
• Rollerblading for and hour burns 800-820 calories approx.
• Swimming for an hour burns 500-550 approx.

The above calorie burning depends on weight. If you weigh more than 150 lbs these activities will burn more weight. If you weigh less than 150 lbs you will burn less.

Doing any one of the above exercises for even a half an hour can burn from 100 to 400 calories.

See, burning 500 calories a day is really not that hard if you try it, and the results can be astounding.

Now lets get to the food part:

Substituting low calorie foods for high calorie ones can be quite easy, you just have to do it:

• Fat free milk: 80 Cal
• Low fat milk (2%): 138 Cal
• Whole Milk: 160 Cal

Between fat free milk and whole milk, there is a difference of 80 calories. If you make a few small adjustments in your diet you can easily shave off 250 calories a day. Couple this with 250 calories burned through exercise, and you can easily cut 500 calories a day from your diet. But beware, there are a lot of surprising food choices that can pack on the calories.

If you are not sure how many calories are in a particular food, there are tons of calorie counters on the Internet. Here are just a few:

So, there it is. The mathematics of weight loss!

Find out more about women's fitness at: http://www.womens-weight-loss-and-fitness.com

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