1 Pound Of Fat = 3,500 Calories

There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. Thus, if you cut back or work off just 3,500 calories, you will lose an entire pound of fat. While it is possible to cut back on your calorie intake and increase your exercise regimen in order to lose pounds quickly, it is important to note that doctors recommend that you lose no more than 2 pounds of weight per week in order to ensure that your body properly adjusts to the weight loss.

Here are some tips to help you safely drop 3,500 from your regular routine:

Run

Running for about 1 hour at a slow pace will help you lose approximately 350 calories, depending on your body type, speed and terrain. Thus, if you run for one hour five days a week while maintaining a consistent diet, you will safely lose one pound.

It is important to understand that many people who just begin running will eat pasta and other foods high in carbohydrates in order to compensate for the exertion. They think that because they worked out so hard, they deserve a treat. After all, they justify, the pasta will help to keep their energy levels high.

However, what they may not realize is that while they are justified in thinking that the carbohydrates will infuse their workout routine with energy, they are not actually setting their bodies up to lose weight. When you burn 350 calories but intake 450 over a high-carbohydrate pasta dish, you are adding more calories to your body than you otherwise would have.

Running does, however, help to boost our metabolism and change your muscle tone so that you burn calories more efficiently. Instead of inhaling a pasta dish after a run, select instead to have a large salad and splurge for the carbohydrate-rich croutons.

Eat In

When you eat out at a restaurant, not only are you subjecting your body to an array of high fat, high calorie foods, but you are also tempting yourself to eat a larger portion than you might normally eat. Therefore, what could be a simple 500 calories meal can easily turn into a 1500-calorie fat fest. In order to lose weight by cutting calories, it is essential that you are aware of exactly what you are putting into your body. Especially in the beginning of your new routine, it is important that you prepare your meals and monitor your level of hunger.

When eating out, generally you are in a social situation where food is not a priority – but spending time with your friends is. For this reason, people tend to eat more than they normally would. Non-dessert eaters often even spring for the extra round of calories. If you must eat out, help yourself avoid temptation by selecting a salad rather than a plate of pasta or burger. You will be amazed at the difference in the amount of calories you intake when you make simple choices such as meal option.

By reducing your overall calorie intake and increasing your level of physical activity, you will be able to lose those 3,500 calories without much trouble. Make sure that you stay focused, motivated and on task. You’ll shed unwanted weight in no time!


Fad" Weight Loss Diet

Overview:

Obesity is a physical state that refers to excessive body fat. Chances are you have experienced the frustrations of dieting at least once in your life, if you have problems with your weight. Close to a hundred million Americans go on a weight loss diet in any given year and up to ninety-five percent of them regain the weight they lose within five years. Worse, a third will gain back more weight than they lost, in danger of "yo-yoing" from one popular diet to another. The conventional approach to weight problems, focusing on fad weight loss diets or weight loss drugs, may leave you with just as much weight and the additional burden of ill health.

Today, an estimated sixty-five percent of all American adults are obese or overweight. Our culture obsesses about staying thin even as we grow fatter, but this isn’t about appearances. Obesity is known to be a precursor to many debilitating health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder disease. Obesity contributes to as many as 375,000 deaths every year. In addition, the public health costs for obesity are staggering. According to researchers at Harvard University, obesity is a factor in 19% of all cases of heart disease with annual health costs estimated at 30 billion dollars; it’s also a factor in 57% of diabetes cases, with health costs of $9 billion per year.

Set Realistic Goals:

No doubt you have fallen for one or more of the weight loss diet schemes over the years, promising quick and painless weight loss. Many of these quick weight loss diet programs undermine your health, cause physical discomfort, flatulence, and ultimately lead to disappointment when you start regaining weight, shortly after losing it. Fad or quick weight loss diet programs generally overstress one type of food. They contravene the fundamental principle of good nutrition - to remain healthy one must consume a balanced diet, which includes a variety of foods. Safe, healthy, and permanent weight reduction is what’s truly lost among the thousands of popular diet schemes.

Some of the weight loss diet schemes reign supreme briefly, only to fade out. While some wane from popularity due to being unproductive or unsafe, some simply lose the public's curiosity. Examples of such fad diets include the South Beach Diet, Atkins diet, the Grapefruit diet, Cabbage Soup diet, the Rotation diet, Beverly Hills diet, Breatharian, Ornish Plan – the list goes on and on. These fad diets advocate a specific technique (such as eliminating a certain food, or eating only certain combinations of foods) in conjunction with the basic idea that the body makes up the difference in energy by breaking down and utilizing some part of itself, essentially converting matter into energy. This self-cannibalism, or catabolism as it is referred, typically starts with breakdown of stored body fat.


Change What You Crave By Changing How You Think: The 5 Step Mental Method

If I were to ask you which foods temp you, most likely they wouldn’t be ones that are very healthy. I bet they would be ice cream, potato chips, pizza, or something along those lines. In fact, in your mind right now as you’re reading, you are probably thinking about a food that isn’t healthy. Well, aren’t you? Stop for a moment and think about it……………….. The point I’m going to make in this article is that you can change what you crave by changing how you think.

Every new client that comes to my office for weight-loss has a “craving problem.” But I don’t see it as a problem at all. I see it as a solution. Cravings are over-rated. They are hodge-podge and we don’t have to be controlled by them. We don’t have to feel temped by ice cream, cookies or 20-ounce prime ribs. Instead, we can be tempted by watermelon, pineapple, oranges or apples; foods like that. Think that sounds crazy? Well it isn’t and you’ll see why.

When I first sit down and talk with a client about their eating habits, I gather everything I need to know about exactly what they eat and how they eat. The culprit to their weight problem always boils down to snacking, picking, eating foods that are unhealthy or just plain over-eating. Then I’ll ask them what fruits and vegetables they like. I’m yet to come across someone who hates fruit or hates every vegetable under the sun. Finally I’ll ask them how often they eat fruits or vegetables and it’s always a lot less often than the unhealthy stuff.

After I’ve gathered my arsenal of information, we do our thing. I’ll have my clients lay back in my recliner and close their eyes. I’ll direct their mind to a peaceful place, and within minutes they’ll be relaxed like never before. Then I start talking about their favorite fruits and vegetables. I’ll ask them to imagine taking a bite of their favorite juicy, ripe fruit and to feel the juices tickling their taste buds. I’ll say to their mind, “from now on anytime you have a craving for food, you will think of a juicy, ripe piece of fruit. And bingo!!! Next thing you know these are exactly the kinds of foods they start desiring. Why? Because anytime you close your eyes and bring yourself to a calm, relaxed place, your subconscious mind emerges, and it is this part of the mind that controls what you crave. Change your thoughts and you’ll change what you crave. Simple.

Let’s look at this from another perspective. Let’s say pineapple is your favorite fruit. Now, if you were sitting with me right now and I gave you a juicy chunk of it, you would enjoy it thoroughly. And you’d want more, right? Of course. Now, let’s say I reached into my refrigerator, whipped-out a piece of chocolate cake and said, “choose one.” Most likely you would opt for the pineapple because you just had a teaser-piece, which would make your mind want more. The fact of the matter is this: you enjoy your favorite fruits just as much as you enjoy your favorite junk foods, you just believe otherwise.

Again, cravings are over-rated. The mere mention of that devilish word always seems to conjures-up images of high calorie, high fat foods only because these are the foods you are most exposed to in our media driven world. Your subconscious gets accustomed to this and just doesn’t know any better. Change your minds images and you’ll change your cravings. Here’s a quick 5 minute mental exercise you can begin doing now to help you start changing the way you crave food.

Step 1: Find a comfortable, quiet place where there are no distractions. Begin breathing deeply until you are quite relaxed. Next, count backwards from 10-1, slowly. With each count, imagine that your mind is drifting deeper and deeper.

Step 2: After you have finished counting, imagine that you are relaxing by yourself in your favorite place. A secluded beach or a log in the woods will do the trick. Imagine yourself feeling so very relaxed and peaceful.

Step 3: Next, imagine a basket full of your favorite fresh picked fruit sitting right next to you. See it clearly in your mind, the color, the feel, everything about that fruit. Imagine taking a bite of that juicy fruit and enjoying it like never before.

Step 4: Repeat the following suggestion to yourself 10 times: “From now on, anytime I think of eating, I immediately feel a craving for fruit.”

Step 5: Count from 1 to 5, slowly, and when you reach 5 open your eyes.