Losing weight doesn’t have to be about starving yourself on a three carrots per day diet and running on the treadmill until you drop on the floor in a pool of sweat. Learn step by step what it takes to get the results and have fun at the same time! Losing weight can be and it is frightening for most of the persons first of all because of the lack of information on this subject. How can this be possible with hundreds of articles and books all focusing on the same subject? Well, this is one of the causes, too much information is confusing and you end up with too many leads, finding the right one for you can be very difficult; that’s why the right thing to do is to keep things simple and focus only on what matters most. The winning formula for weight loss has only two factors: exercise and diet, pretty simple right? Let’s briefly see what this actually means.
Anything that maintains the target heart rate 60% – 90% of the Maximum Heart Rate is considered aerobic. If the heart rate is lower, then aerobic levels have not been reached. If the heart rate is higher, then an anaerobic level has been reached. During anaerobic exercise (sprinting) protein is being consumed and energy is being produced without the benefit of oxygen. High intensity, high impact aerobics is not necessary to burn fat. For example, running for 1 mile burns only 20% more fat than brisk walking for 1 mile. It’s important to focus on the exercise and maintain the target heart rate. Watching TV, reading books or other similar activity tends to distract the participant from monitoring the target heart rate. Use music with sufficient beats per minute to intensify the exercise session (120 – 140 bpm). It is important to provide a period for cool-down. Abruptly stopping aerobic activity can cause blood pooling in your lower extremities or making you feel lightheaded.
A pound is equivalent to 3500 calories. To over simplify, if you want to lose one pound per week, reduce your caloric consumption by 3500 calories per week. Consuming less than 1500 calories per day on a regular basis reduces the basal metabolic rate. When the metabolic rate is reduced, less calories can be consumed. Excess calories will be stored as fat. This is why it’s important to combine exercise with diet in order to affect weight loss. Your basal metabolic rate is the basic minimum number of calories that are required to maintain your body weight based on average body composition. To calculate your basal metabolic rate:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) = 24 x Weight (lb)/2.2
OR
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) = 24 x Weight (kg)
The BMR is then multiplied by a number representing the individual’s activity level:
Sedentary BMR x 1.45Light BMR x 1.60Medium BMR x 1.70Heavy BMR x 1.88
Generally, eating more than this number of calories increases weight and less than this number allows weight reduction. However, BMR does not take into account extremes of activity or inactivity. Therefore, BMR should be used as an approximation.
