Losing or gaining weight can be a challenge for any person, especially when multitudes of fad diets and products geared toward bulking up or slimming down bombard you in magazines, television ads and even the aisles of your grocery store. Losing or gaining weight really comes down to a simple equation of how many calories you take in and how many you burn. If your goal is simply to be healthy, maintaining a good calorie intake while engaging in moderate exercise most days of the week will fight diseases and keep you strong.
Restricting Calories
It takes 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. If you are trying to lose weight, restrict your calorie intake each day to burn more calories than you take in. If you restrict your current diet by 500 calories each day, you will lose 1 lb. each week. You may find restricting your calories is easy if you cut portion sizes, swap high-calorie foods for low-calorie ones or simply forgo your daily treat or dessert. Talk with a physician, dietitian or nutritionist to determine how many calories you need each day to stay healthy before starting any calorie-restricting diet.
Gaining or Maintaining Weight
To gain weight, you need to eat more calories than you burn. To stay healthy, make sure the calories you are taking in are from healthy foods rather than refined and highly processed foods. Try adding a handful of nuts or seeds, such as flax seeds, to your salads and snacks. You can also add cheese to sandwiches and other meals, have peanut butter for a snack or eat fruits and vegetables that are higher in calories, such as avocados and bananas. To maintain your current weight, you must burn the same amount of calories you are consuming each day.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise can help you lose weight or increase your physical health. Most adults are advised to participate in 2-1/2 hours of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week to maintain health. Some exercises burn more calories than others, so depending on whether you want to lose, gain or maintain weight will help determine the exercise you choose. For someone who weighs 160 lbs., leisurely walking at 2 mph burns 183 calories while running at 8 mph burns 986 calories.
Strength Training
Resistance training, or strength training, burns calories while also fighting many diseases and conditions, such as diabetes. Strength training, no matter how many calories you take in, improves the strength of muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. It also increases lean body mass, which boosts your metabolism and burns calories even while you rest.
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