Weight Loss The Smart Way

Most people don’t achieve weight loss goals, and others who do quickly pack the weight back on when the diet ends. It’s unhealthy to shock your body with fast diets. To be effective at controlling your weight, you need a change in mindset. Healthy living is a lifestyle, not a task that you can check off and forget about. There isn’t a magic pill to a healthy weight. You must learn how to motivate yourself consistently, have healthy outlook, and follow a plan.

How many calories should I burn to lose weight?

To lose one pound of weight, you need to burn 3500 calories. This is not going to happen in a day. The key is to burn more calories than you are eating. Each calorie deficit goes into that 3500 calorie goal. The problem is to burn more calories than you are eating. Each calorie deficit goes into that 3500 calorie goal. The problem is non-essential foods and drinks. For example, the average soft drink adds 180 calories to your meal. A candy bar is 150. One glazed donut is 250. A few snacks a day will put that 3500 calorie mark out of reach.

To put this into perspective, it takes thirty minutes of aerobics to burn of one donut, or an hour to burn off a candy bar and a soft drink. The only way to lose weight is to burn more than you eat, and that isn’t going to happen with junk food and sugary drinks in your diet.

Here are some calorie burning exercises to plan into your diet.

• Back packing – 550 calories per hour.
• Hiking – 450 calories.
• Fast-paced bicycling – 640.
• Treadmill – 610 to 820.
• Jogging – 550.
• Walking – 230.
• Swimming – 480.
• Aerobics – 500.

Walking is a good option for getting started if you aren’t already in shape. It takes fifteen hours of brisk walking to burn a pound of calories – providing you are not over eating. This can seem overwhelming at first, which is why long-term thinking is critical. It’s a lifestyle change, not merely a goal to achieve. Also keep in mind that the average two-hundred pound person will burn around 90 calories an hour without exercise. Your body has already covered over 2000 calories. Add a thirty-minute workout five days a week, watch what you eat and you are on your way to a healthy body.

Does Sweating help lose weight?

Sweating does not help you lose weight. At least not calorie weight. You may lose water weight temporarily, but once you hydrate, your body returns to its normal weight. Don’t fall for the fads of wearing heat insulating clothing that forces your body to sweat. It puts you at risk for heat related injuries, and will do nothing about burning calories. Water loss will not affect your weight. Sweating more does not indicate calorie burning. It only indicates how efficient your body cools itself. Sweating is also affected by humidity, outside temperature, and how good of shape you are in. Those who are fit tend to sweat more easily since their bodies are conditioned to self-cool.

Another myth of weight loss is that starving yourself causes you to burn calories faster. Studies have shown that a healthy snack before a workout causes your body to burn calories more efficiently for up to 24 hours after a workout. Fasting causes the metabolism to slow down, which burns calories at a slower pace.

30 day weight loss challenge

Healthy living requires a plan, which will create long lasting habits. The good news about getting in shape is that it produces weight loss in the long term, but has feel-good benefits in the short term. Take the thirty-day challenge and see the benefits.

Day 1 – write down how you feel. Your energy level, endurance, and weight. If you are heavily out of shape, get a physical before starting an exercise routine. Start writing down your non-essential foods and drinks.

Week 1. Cut out all soft drinks, chips, and sugary snacks. Commit to a brisk walk three days a week.

Week 2. Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal before eating meats and starches. Increase walking to five days a week. Add an aerobic exercise two days a week.

Week 3. Cut your starch foods in half. Do aerobic exercises for thirty minutes three days, and continue walking five days a week.

Week 4. Commit to drinking three glasses of pure water a day. Add strength training to the current exercise routine. Visit your journal from day one and compare to now.

Concluding thoughts

Stop worrying about your body image. Focus on being healthy, and let your body shape take care of itself. Few people have the body type to be a super model, and if this is your goal, you’ll become discouraged. Look at how your energy level is increasing. Notice how your quality of life is going up. Enjoy being active and make eating, good sleep habits, and a reasonable exercise routine become part of your lifestyle.