Weight Loss: A Simple Mathematic Equation

No matter how many diet fads or miracle "fat burners" come down the pike, the simple fact is that to lose weight, you have to use more energy (calories) than you consume. There are no miracle foods that will shave the pounds away; sauna suits cause you to lose water weight that you just put back on when you replace the fluid lost. If there were an easy way to lose weight, professional athletes such as boxers who have to get down to weight would have discovered the answer long ago.

One pound on the human body is equal to 3,500 calories. Do the math; to lose one pound, you need to use 3,500 calories more than you consume. Health experts tell us that the best method to achieve this subtraction of calories is through the combination of diet and exercise.

Recommendations from the American Heart Association, AHA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, state that healthy adults need to get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week--at least five days/week.

Let's do the math: If you are able to reduce your daily dietary intake by 250 calories/day and you are able to increase your usual daily physical activity by 250 calories/day, each seven days you expend 3,500 calories more than you take in.

Health experts tell us that losing one to two pounds per week is an optimal weight loss goal. Research has proven that weight loss that is achieved slowly, over a period of time, is more likely to be maintained than rapid weight loss. At least some of the reasoning behind the truth of this is that fad diets--something you only stick to for a short period of time--come and go. There is no real change in eating habits or physical activity. Slow weight loss is achieved through an eating and exercise plan that can easily become a permanent part of a healthy lifestyle.

Physical activity need not be exercise as in calisthenics or jogging. Any sort of physical activity that you enjoy will burn calories--some more than others--but if you're not going to consistently do the higher calorie burning activities, then doing something is better than doing nothing. Dancing, gardening and yard work all burn calories. Swimming, tennis, golfing (minus a cart) are all great physical activities.

The American Heart Association has teamed up with Nintendo for an program called Get Active Now. They are incorporating Nintendo's Wii into a physical activity program you can do any time in your own home.

To learn the amount of calories any number of physical activities burn, visit here. To learn about healthy eating habits, individualized diet plans, and the nutrient and calorie count of a variety of foods, visit the USDA's website, MyPyramid. With these tools, you'll be able to do the math yourself and arrive at a healthier, slimmer you.

You say you can't do 30 minutes of physical activity at one stretch? You don't have to; three 10-minute intervals of physical activity during a day is healthy, too.