By now there’s a good chance that you know 3,500 calories is equal to about one pound of body weight. In other words, you will lose a pound for every 3,500 calories you get rid of, and you will gain one pound for every 3,500 calories you add on. If you are serious about losing weight, then a calories burned counter is a tool you should make regular use of.

You will notice that 3,500 calories works out nicely to an even 500 calories per day for a week. Furthermore, there are only two real ways that you can have direct control over those calories: what you eat and the exercise you do. Yes, your metabolism plays a role, but that isn’t quite as easy to control directly. So, diet and exercise it is.

A calories burned counter will let you know how many calories you burn during any activities you participate in. This is critical information if you are trying to get rid of some extra pounds. Knowing how many calories you’re expending will help you to stay on track, and can also serve as motivation. After all, you don’t always see results in the mirror right away, but if you know you’re burning calories then you can assure yourself that noticeable results are just around the corner.

To get the full picture, you will also want to get a regular calorie counter which tells you how many calories are in the foods you eat. This way you will be able to know not only how many calories you’re burning, but how many you’re taking in as well.

Health experts typically recommend that losing one to two pounds per week is safe, and has the added benefit of being a more sustainable form of weight loss–you take it off and keep it off. Now that you have your calorie counters you can aim for a loss of 500 to 1,000 calories per day. Don’t worry, there’s no need to starve yourself or wear yourself out by exercising. In fact, it’s not a good idea at all.

The best way to lose weight is a combination of diet and exercise. Therefore, if you take in 250 calories less per day and burn off an extra 250 per day, you will lose one pound per week. If you want to lose two pounds per week, then eat 500 fewer calories and burn off an extra 500.

There is one catch that you should be aware of: a calories burned counter only works when you use it. If you never check it, then it won’t do you any good at all. However, when you do use it, you will have another powerful tool to help you lose weight. So, what are you waiting for? You can do it! All it takes is knowing how many calories you’re taking in and how many you’re burning.

Tags: Added Benefit, Best Way To Lose Weight, Burning Calories, Calorie Counter, Calorie Counters, Calories, Calories Burned, Calories Burning, Calories Counter, Calories Per Day, Good Chance, Health Experts, Healthy Diet, How Many Calories, Losing Weight, Metabolism, Mirror, Motivation, Noticeable Results, Two Pounds, Weight Calories, Weight Loss —

Being overweight is kind of funny in a way. It sort of creeps up on you. Sure, the scale may tell you that you have put on a few pounds over the years, but you don’t really notice it…until one day you see a picture of yourself or catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. “When did this happen”, you think to yourself. Surely you can’t be that fat, but there’s the proof. However you put those pounds on, right now you just want to know the secrets to losing weight quickly.

It may sound obvious, but you need to know what those secrets are before you can start taking advantage if them. See, a lot of people think that weight loss just happens somehow. Maybe if they think positive thoughts or try something the weight will come off. Sorry, that just doesn’t work in the real world.

But why try to lose weight quickly in the first place? After all, the so-called experts say you shouldn’t lose any more than one or two pounds per week. the truth is that they are right, for the most part. However, that’s mainly for long-term weight loss. If you’re fairly healthy, and your doctor says it’s okay (always check with your doctor before making drastic changes to your eating or exercise habits), then losing more is fine.

One of the biggest reasons for looking for the secrets to losing weight quickly, is that you can see results that much sooner. If you only lose one or two pounds at a time, then it’s going to take a while before it’s really noticeable. On the other hand, if you lose five to ten pounds in the first two weeks, you will notice, and that can motivate you to stay on whatever program you choose. Then, after the initial burst of losing a lot of weight, you can go back to the more sustainable rate of losing one to two pounds per week.

You may have heard it before: 3,500 calories is the equivalent of one pound of body weight. Every diet that works, works because of this simple principle. They may try to hide what they’re doing behind some sort of gimmick (cabbage soup, anyone?), but the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in.

3,500 is a nice round number because it translates into 500 calories per day for one week. If you can cut you caloric intake by just 500 calories, then you will lose one pound in a week. That’s not fast weight loss, but it adds up to just over 50 pounds in a year. Now, if you can do enough physical activity to burn off 500 calories per day then that’s another pound, and you can shed about 100 pounds in a year.

This is what it comes down to: the secrets to losing weight quickly are to start off strong so you stay motivated, and to combine both diet and exercise to get double the results in the same amount of time.

Tags: Being Overweight, Burst, Cabbage, Calories, Diet, Drastic Changes, Eating Habits, Exercise Habits, Glimpse, Healthy Diet, Long Term Weight Loss, Lose Weight, Losing Weight, Lot, Mirror, Positive Thoughts, Principle, Proof, Real World, Sustainable Rate, Truth, Two Pounds —

Perhaps you saw it coming for quite a while, and knew it would get to this point. Or, maybe you looked in the mirror one day and all of a sudden realized just how much weight you have put on over the years. Chances are good that the second scenario is more likely. Most of us don’t want to be overweight. And while we may have a few clues as to how we got here, it still comes as somewhat of a shock. Either way, you have finally made the decision to shed those extra pounds once and for all, and you want to lose weight fast.

Hold on! That is an admirable goal, but you need to step back for a moment and put things into perspective. To put it another way, you need to be realistic and specific. How much weight you want to lose and how quickly will play a bog role in which diet and exercise program you choose.

You still have to be realistic though. If you want to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks, then you’re not going to have much luck. Not only that, but any diet that makes such promises is most likely lying at best, or bad for your health at worst. It simply isn’t safe to lose that much weight, except for a few rare exceptions, and only if you are doing so under the guidance of a qualified medical professional.

Most experts agree that losing 1 or 2 pounds per week is safe and effective. However, you may be able to bump that up to 5 pounds in the first week in some cases. For most people, 1 to 2 pounds is ideal. It’s not only relatively easy, but you will be more likely to stay on such a diet. If you have a choice between losing 20 pounds over two months, only to regain it; or losing 1 pound per week over the course of 6 months, but keeping it off forever, which one would you choose.

The good news is that you don’t really have to choose. You can still lose the 20 pounds, but if you take the right approach, you will be able to keep it off. It’s all about a simple formula: 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound of body weight. That means if you take in 500 calories less per day for a week, you will lose 1 pound. Or, if you burn off an extra 500 calories per day, you will lose a pound.

So, here’s the real “secret” to lose weight fast: do both! Take in 500 calories less and burn off an extra 500 calories. That’s 1,000 calories per day in your favor. That’s a loss of 2 pounds per week, or just over 100 pounds in a year’s time. And the best part it is that it won’t be nearly as hard as if you were depriving yourself, and that means you will be able to keep the weight off for good.

Tags: Admirable Goal, Calories, Diet, Exercise Program, Formula 3, Guidance, Health, Healthy Diet, Lose 20 Pounds, Lose Weight, Losing Weight, Mirror, Perspective, Promises, Rare Exceptions, Shock —

Weight loss and self-esteem are like the scales of justice, as one side goes down the other side goes up. Usually, the more weight you lose, the higher your self esteem goes up.

No one should think that they have to be ‘perfect’ whatever that means anyway. Perfect is an impossible standard to have, or to achieve, no one is perfect. Even all the ‘perfect’ super models and actresses you see on t.v. aren’t so perfect if you would see them without their makeup and flattering lighting.

Just find the weight that is perfect for you and your body type. Once you have set realistic goals for yourself, stick with a program that will give you every chance of attaining those goals.

I have a friend who is getting married in the spring. She wants to lose about 60 lbs. by then. She has given it a lot of thought and has set a ‘start date’. She plans on starting an exercise routine and a healthier eating plan starting on that date and continuing for the rest of her life.

By gearing up to make these changes in her life, she is allowing herself to get her head around the whole thing. That will greatly increase her chances of success. Since she has a clear and realistic game plan and a reasonable time frame, she will almost assuredly meet her weight loss goals.

She has also enlisted the help of friends to accomplish this goal. Fortunately for her, some of her closest friends are work out nuts so they can help her and bolster her when she hits a rough patch, which she probably will.

Even after just having lost a few pounds, you can already see a significant boost in her self esteem. It’s more than just the fact that she has lost a few pounds, it’s also about the fact that she has set a goal for herself and slowly but surely she is accomplishing that goal.

Being able to set a goal and see that goal met is extraordinarily fulfilling. It can really make you feel great about yourself above and beyond just the physical changes you can see in the mirror or feel in your clothes.

This is why weight loss and self-esteem can be such a powerful combination. It really is a two for one: you become better looking and you are able to set and meet a goal for yourself. Both of those things on their own can be incredibly powerful, when you combine them the benefit can go up exponentially.

If you want to see the benefits of weight loss and self-esteem increase for yourself, just set a weight loss goal, make a plan, find a friend or two to help you along the way, and go for it. Do not make it harder than it needs to be by setting yourself up for failure with unrealistic expectations. Take it slow and steady and you will get where you want to be.

Tags: Actresses, Clothes, Eating Habits, Exercise Routine, Game Plan, Healthier Eating, Lighting, Losing Weight, Loss Weight, Lot, Makeup, Mirror, Nuts, Physical Changes, Realistic Game, Realistic Goals, Rough Patch, Scales Of Justice, Self Esteem, Super Models, Time Frame, Weight Loss Goals —