Obesity is a growing concern among American women. However, simple lifestyle changes like adopting healthier eating habits, eating balanced meals, and increasing physical activity are easy and healthy ways to decrease calorie consumption and lose weight. Losing weight is a slow process, dependent on burning more calories than you consume. Thus, the amount of weight a woman can lose in a month depends greatly on her daily caloric intake and her number of calories burned through exercise.
Calories
Calories are the energy in food that the body converts to fuel. An average woman needs to consume around 2,000 calories a day to meet her body's energy demands. If the body does not need all the calories consumed, it will store the extra calories as fat. Calories will remain as fat in the body until the body is forced to rely on the stored fat for energy. Women undergoing the hormonal changes of menopause are more likely to gain weight around their abdomen and may need to reduce their caloric intake by an additional 200 calories, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Calories and Weight Loss
Obesity in women can lead to poor self-esteem, eating disorders, and a myriad of health issues, according to the American Osteopathic Association. However, healthy weight loss is as simple as decreasing the number of calories consumed and increasing the number of calories burned. To lose one pound of fat, a woman must burn 3,500 calories more than she consumes. Cutting about 500 calories a day out of a diet is usually considered healthy and can result in the loss of one to two pounds a week. This means a woman can expect to safely lose between four and eight pounds a month.
Healthy Foods
Establishing healthy eating habits is one of the easiest ways to reduce the daily consumption of calories without skipping on essential nutrients like calcium and fiber. Avoiding alcohol and sodas, skipping extra high-calorie snacks, reducing portion sizes, and replacing high-calorie foods with lower-calorie options are just some examples of healthy eating habits that can reduce caloric intake. A healthy and nutritious diet that contains a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat proteins can also aid in weight loss while ensuring the body's caloric and nutritional needs are being met, according to Helpguide.org.
Exercise
Exercise is as important for healthy weight loss as cutting calories. Increasing the intensity and frequency of daily physical activity forces the body to utilize stored energy sources, which burns calories, increases resting metabolism and builds lean muscle mass. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise, five times a week is the bare minimum for weight management. Moderate exercise should increase the pulse, temperature and respiration without leaving you overheated or out of breath. Physical activity can also play a role in relieving stress, boosting energy levels, alleviating depression, improving mood, sharpening focus, and increasing self-esteem, according to helpguide.org.
Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss
Losing weight too fast can be unhealthy and dangerous. Dropping a lot of weight quickly can affect the nervous system, creating feelings of lethargy, tiredness and sickness. Diets that severely cut calories or restrict certain foods and diet pills may result in rapid weight loss. However, if weight loss occurs too quickly, the body is shedding water and muscle, not fat. These diets can also slow metabolism, making it difficult to keep the weight off once the desired weight has been achieved. A healthy weight loss goal is about one to two pounds a week, according to helpguide.org.
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