Weight Loss Explained

All across America, millions of people struggle with weight problems. These troubles can be genetic, but in my honest opinion and experience, I strongly think most of these problems are due to a lack of motivation, and more importantly, a lack of information. For example, not too many people know that diet makes up for way more than its half of the saying “diet and exercise” when it comes to losing weight. In fact, by merely consuming less food (calories) than you naturally burn (your metabolic rate), you can reach weight loss goals over time. But by no means am I promoting only dieting as your weight loss plan! In this article, I’ll try to simplify the concept of weight loss as much as possible, and hopefully give a few people some insight that will help them reach their goals.

When I began researching weight loss, I was literally overwhelmed by all the information I found! The hardest part of my entire plan was actually finding out what everything was saying. Eventually, everything all boiled down into some very basic concepts with fancy words. For instance, I discovered that energy (calories) is stored in the body when it isn’t used. Everyone knows that right? I also found out that when that food gets stored, it gets stored as carbs and fat, which can be burned later when the body doesn’t get enough energy to support what it’s doing (exercise!). When the body isn’t getting enough energy, it burns its fat and carb stores, and when it gets too much energy, it adds to the stores that are already there. From there, an extremely simple concept, its all math.

• Calories consumed – Calories burned = Weight gain or loss

So, to lose weight, all you have to do is burn more calories than you consume, right? While this is true, its also a lot easier said than done. You have to really pay attention to make it work. Everyone has a basal metabolic rate (BMR for short, it’s the same thing as that “natural metabolic rate” I mentioned earlier), so the first step in making a diet and exercise plan is finding out what yours is! It’s very easy, just multiply your weight by 12.

• 200 lbs x 12 = 2400 calories burned per day with no exercise.

Now that you know your BMR, all you have to do is measure how many calories you consume in a day on average, and subtract! If you’re consuming fewer calories than you’re burning, you’re in great shape and you’ll lose weight over time!

A key thing to remember is that 1 pound = approximately 3500 calories. So if your BMR is 2400, and you consume 1900 calories per day, when you subtract, you see that you’re burning 500 more calories per day than you’re consuming, and 3500 divided by 500 = 7. So, every 7 days, you’ll lose one pound!

Complementing dieting with exercise, however, can accelerate your weight loss up to tenfold, and can even make sure you’re losing the right weight! Lets see what happens if you burn an extra 500 calories each day with exercise!

• 2400 BMR + 500 calories burned = 2900

• 2900 calories burned – 1900 calories consumed = 1000 calories burned per day = 2 pounds every week.

Also, by dieting alone, you would be losing muscle and fat rather than just fat alone, but exercise makes sure those muscles stay built up and all you’re losing is fat and carbs. Losing weight really is a very simple thing to do, all it takes is a little bit of addition and subtraction, and some motivation and self control. It will obviously be easier for some than others, but anyone can do it, so I hope this helps at least a few people, and good luck to everyone in achieving their goals!