weight loss

Introduction to Weight Loss

Whether you're trying to lose 5 pounds or more than 50, the same principles determine how much weight you lose and how fast your weight loss will occur. Remember the following simple guidelines and putting them into practice can lead to weight loss without using special diet plans, books or medicine.

Our body weight is determined by the amount of energy we take in as food and the amount of energy we expend in the activities of our day. Energy is measured in calories. If your weight remains constant, you are probably takes the same amount of calories you burn each day. If you slowly gain weight over time, it is likely that your caloric intake is greater than the number of calories you burn through your daily activities.

All are in control of the amount of food he or she uses every day, so our intake of calories is something we can control. To a large degree, we can also control our output of energy, or the number of calories we burn each day. Number of calories we burn each day is dependent

    our basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories we burn per hour simply by being alive and maintaining body functions


    and our level of physical activity.

For some people, because of genetic (inherited) factors or other conditions, the resting metabolic rate (BMR) would be slightly higher or lower than average. Our weight also plays a role in determining how many calories we burn at rest - more calories are required to keep your body in its current state, the greater your body weight. A 100-pound person requires less energy (food) to maintain body weight than someone who weighs 200 pounds.

Lifestyle and work habits partially determine how many calories we need each day. Someone whose job involves heavy physical labor will naturally burn more calories in a day than someone who sits at a desk most of the day (a sedentary job). For people who do not have jobs that require intense physical activity, exercise or increased physical activity increase the number of calories burned.

As a rough estimate, need an average woman 31-50 years, leading a sedentary lifestyle around 1,800 calories a day to maintain a normal weight. A man of the same age requires about 2,200 calories. Attendance at a moderate level of physical activity (exercising three to five days per week) requires about 200 extra calories a day.