Weight loss for beginners

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Title: Weight loss for beginners

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Author: McEvoy

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Weight loss for beginners

Copyright 2006 McEvoy

Losing weight need not be difficult, although many people

will tell you otherwise. There are so many different

diets, books, programmes, magazines and adverts out there,

including a multitude of quick fixes and fads, no wonder

most people find the prospect of losing weight very

daunting, even depressing. The sad truth is that most

diets do fail. Why? Unfortunately there are as many

reasons as there are diets, but there is one underlying

truth about losing weight that underpins everything. The

philosophy is very simple; to lose weight you need to eat

fewer calories each day than your body uses up. A calorie

can be defined as a unit of energy and the body needs a

certain amount of fuel or energy each day just to function.

If you consume more calories than you use, you gain

weight. That's it. If you want to lose weight you can begin

right here by following this very simple guide, which will

help put you on the road to success.

Begin by setting yourself small, realistic targets. Focus

on what you have to lose this week not this year. This is

very important. If you have a target weight in mind that is

a long way down the scale from where you are now,

concentrating on that goal alone is enough to put you off

even before you start. Breaking your desired weight loss

down into sections so that you have a weekly target allows

you to have an achievable goal each and every week. There

is absolutely no point in setting yourself unrealistic

weekly goals; you're destined to fail. A realistic,

achievable and safe weight loss each week, for most people,

is somewhere in the region of 1 to 2 lbs.

Let us suppose that you want to lose 2 lbs a week. What we

need to do now is work out how many calories you need each

day in order to achieve this. You can do this by

identifying how many calories you are using at the moment,

and then make sure you get just 500 less than that. Do not

guess. Your body is used to having a certain amount of

energy every day so if you drastically and suddenly reduce

this amount then you are likely to feel drained and

exhausted; prone to mood swings, food cravings and binges,

and ultimately to give up. Sticking to 500 calories a day

less than what you normally eat, ensures a regular, steady

weight loss that will leave you feeling empowered, more

energetic, healthier and indeed, happier.

An average adult male needs around 2500 calories a day just

to live, and the average woman, 2000, but what about you?

How do you work out how many calories your body needs each

day? You can visit

http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalalc.htm where

you will find a very simple, calories per day calculator

for adults. By putting in your height, age, sex, current

weight, and activity level, you can find out how many

calories your body is likely to need each day just to

maintain your current weight. For example, I put in the

following information: Height - 6ft, current weight - 182

lbs (13st 3lbs), Age - 32, Sex - Male, Activity Level -

very active. The number of calories per day that my body

needs to maintain my current weight is 3224.

But you want to lose weight, so you need to consume 500

calories less than what you are using at the moment. You

must put your body into negative calorie balance otherwise

your weight will stay the same. Similarly, if you put

yourself into a positive calorie balance by consuming more

calories than your body needs to use, then you will gain

weight. It's really very simple.

So you have made the decision to lose weight. You have set

yourself a realistic target of around 2 lbs per week. You

have worked out how many calories you need to maintain your

current weight and subtracted 500 from that in order to

find out how many calories you need to eat each day. All

you need to do now is calculate those calories and you are

on your way.

How are you going to work out how many calories there are

in the foods you are eating each day? This need not be a

tiresome task; in fact it can be a rewarding adventure.

What you learn now will stay with you for life and help you

to make better choices regarding your eating habits in the

future. You will need to educate yourself on what foods and

snacks are high in calories, which ones are low in calories

and even what free foods are available that contain little

or no calories at all. Fortunately most food packaging

contains nutritional information on the label, including

how many calories they contain. The rest is up to you; you

have nothing to lose, except the weight of course.

About the Author:

The Author Dave McEvoy is an award winning personal trainer

who uses this exact guide to help his clients achieve their

weight loss goals. For more weight loss information visit

http://www.information73.com