The best diet and weight-loss plan is to combine healthy eating with exercise. The only way to truly burn fat and lose weight is to use more calories than you consume on a daily basis. Only a chronic caloric deficit will force your body to live off its reserves and use your fat as energy. This is a simple way to lose weight that will work for anyone and everyone.
Calorie Counting
Calorie counting is simple: Just keep track of how many calories you eat throughout the day. When you determine how many calories your body needs and how many calories you are burning with regular exercise, determining how many calories you must eat to lose weight is easy. One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, so you must reach a caloric deficit on 500 calories per day to burn 1 lb. of fat per week.
Your Calorie Needs
To begin, you need to determine how many calories your body needs to run. Your basal metabolic rate is simply a total of the energy your cells need to function to maintain your life. Once you have determined your BMR, you can stick with eating this amount of calories and everything you do beyond staying alive will result in calories burned. The best way to achieve this is through a combination of diet and exercise. BMR varies for men and women and can be figured with a simple equation. For males, BMR = 66.473 + (13.7516 * kilograms of body weight) + (5.0033 * height) + (6.755 * age). For females, BMR = 655.0955 + (9.5634 * weight in kilograms) + (1.8496 * height) + (4.6756 * age).
Exercise
Exercise is an essential part of weight loss. Not only does it contribute to your caloric deficit, it also can influence your BMR. When you exercise, your metabolic rate is elevated both during and after physical activity. Exercise causes your body to produce larger amounts of energy, which increases your metabolism. After exercise, your body must recover; recovery takes energy, thus increasing your metabolic rate. It also acts to influence your body composition. Regular exercise increases lean body mass. The more skeletal muscle you have, the higher your BMR is, since muscle takes more energy to function than fat.
Exercise for Weight Loss
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercising to burn 2,000 calories per week. You should exercise five to seven days per week, combining both an aerobic and resistive program. Aerobic exercise is sustainable activity using large, rhythmic movements to burn calories, such as swimming, biking or running. Participate in aerobic exercise for 45 to 60 minutes at a moderate intensity. Resistance training is used to increase muscular strength and lean body mass. Resistance training is weightlifting that should become progressively more difficult as you get fitter. Be sure to use all your large muscles, selecting a total of eight to 10 exercises. Weights should feel moderately difficult, but you should be able to complete between two to three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Counting Calories: Get Back to Weight-Loss Basics; Dec. 19, 2009
- "Exercise Testing and Prescription"; David C. Nieman; 2007
- "Exercise Physiology"; George A. Brooks, Thomas D. Fahey, Kenneth M. Baldwin; 2005
- "Health Fitness Instructor's Handbook"; Edward T. Howley and B. Don Franks; 2003
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription"; Mitchell H. Whaley, Ph.D., Peter H. Brubaker, Ph.D., Robert M. Otto, Ph.D., (Eds.); 2006
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