What it Takes to Lose Weight

What does it take to lose weight?

To lose weight, you have to cut down on the number of calories you consume and start burning more calories each day. Calories are the amount of energy in the food you eat. Some foods have more calories than others. For example, foods high in fat and sugar are also typically high in calories. If you eat more calories than your body uses, the extra calories will be stored as body excess fat.
A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories. To lose 1 pound of fat in a week, you have to eat 3,500 fewer calories (that is 500 fewer calories a day), or you have to "burn off" an extra 3,500 calories. You can burn off calories by exercising or just by being more active. (Talk to your family doctor before you begin any type of exercise program. Your doctor can help you determine what kind of exercise program is right for you.)
The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat fewer calories and burn off calories. If you cut 250 calories from your diet each day and exercise enough to burn off 250 calories, that adds up to 500 fewer calories in one day. If you do this for 7 days, you can lose 1 pound of fat in a week.
Many experts believe you should not try to lose more than 2 pounds per week. Losing more than 2 pounds in a week usually means that you are losing water weight and lean muscle mass instead of losing excess fat. If you do this, you will have less energy, and you will most likely gain the weight back.


How often should I eat?

Most people can eat 3 regular meals and 1 snack every day. The 3 meals should be about the same size and should be low in fat. Try to eat 1 to 2 cups of fruits and vegetables, 2 to 3 ounces of whole grains and 1 to 2 ounces of meat (or a meat alternative) at most meals.
Some people benefit more if they eat 5 to 6 smaller meals throughout the day, about 2 to 3 hours apart. For example, their first meal of the day might be a cup of low-fat or nonfat yogurt and a banana. Three hours later they might eat a simple deli sandwich with whole-grain bread and fat-free mayonnaise.
Do not skip meals. While this may help you lose weight in the beginning, it fails in the long run. Skipping meals may make you feel too hungry later in the day, causing you to overeat at your next meal.
After about a month of eating a normal breakfast, lunch and a light dinner, your body will adjust.


What is so bad about high-fat foods?

Foods high in fat are usually high in calories, which could lead to unwanted weight gain. Consuming too much saturated and trans fats may increase LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) level, and increase your risk of heart disease. The USDA suggests that you eat no more than 20 grams of saturated fat, and that you limit the amount of trans fat to as close to 0 grams as possible. Click here for more information on reading nutrition labels.
It is important to remember that some fats can be beneficial to your overall health. "Good" fat, such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are found in fish, nuts, and low- or nonfat dairy products.


Can I trust nutrition information I get from newspapers and magazines?

Nutrition tips and diet information from different sources often conflict with each other. You should always check with your doctor first. Also, keep in mind the following advice:

• There is no "magic bullet" when it comes to nutrition. There isn't one single diet that works for every person. You need to find an eating plan that works for you.
• Good nutrition doesn't come in a vitamin supplement. Only take a vitamin with your doctor's recommendation, as your body benefits the most when you eat healthy foods.
• Eating all different kinds of foods is best for your body, so learn to try new foods.
• Fad diets offer short-term changes, but good health comes from long-term effort and commitment.
• Stories from people who have used a diet program or product, especially in commercials and infomercials, are advertisements. These people are usually paid to endorse what the ad is selling. Remember, regained weight or other problems that develop after someone has completed the diet program are never talked about in those ads.

Will diet drugs help?

Although diet drugs may help you lose weight at first, they usually don't help you keep the weight off and may have damaging side effects. Most diet pills have not been tested by the Food and Drug Administration, which means you can't be sure if the drugs are safe. Taking drugs also does not help you learn how to change your eating and exercise habits. Making lasting changes in these habits is the way to lose weight and keep it off.

10000 Steps a Day Programs

Health and fitness experts advocate taking 10000 steps per day. What are the caloric requirements and weight loss potential of these exercise programs?

Many health and fitness experts advocate wearing pedometers and taking 10000 steps per day. Taking these steps, which corresponds to walking a total distance of about 5 miles, will improve overall fitness and help control weight.
How many pounds can one reasonably expect to lose in a walking exercise program?

Caloric requirements of Walking

Ralph LaForge of the Duke University Medical Center provides a detailed analysis of the net caloric requirements of running and walking. LaForge defines the net caloric requirements as the calories required beyond what the body would burn if one had remained sedentary. (Technical detail: The calories used here are food calories, which are 1000 of the calories used in physics and chemistry.)

For slow walking (<3.5 mph) the body burns calories at a net rate of 0.77 calories per kg of body mass per mile. That corresponds to 35 calories per mile of slow walking for every 100 pounds of body weight. A 150 pound person will burn 53 calories per mile and a 200 pound person will burn 70 calories per mile.

For faster walking (>3.5 mph) or running the caloric requirements increase. For fast walking, the body burns calories at a net rate of 1.38 calories per kilogram of body mass per mile. That's about 63 calories per mile of fast walking for every 100 pounds of body weight. A 150 pound person will burn 94 calories per mile and a 200 pound person will burn about 126 calories per mile. Running rather than walking fast increases these figures about 10%.
Losing Weight

Losing a pound of fat, requires burning about 3500 calories more than is taken in via food. In round numbers, a person weighing a little over 150 pounds will burn about 100 calories per mile of fast walking. That means one would have to walk 35 miles to lose a pound. That makes it sound virtually impossible for the average person to walk his/her way to a significant weight loss.

So let's look at it a different way. 10000 steps per day corresponds to about 5 miles (2000 steps = 1 mile for most people). Hence walking 10000 fast steps a day burns about 500 calories a day. At 500 calories a day, it takes only a week to add up to the 3500 calories needed to lose one pound.

A totally sedentary person who works up to walking 10000 steps a day without increasing his or her caloric intake might reasonably expect to lose a pound a week. But be careful here, most people take some steps in the course of their normal activity, so if they start a 10000 steps a day program, they are not increasing their activity by that much. In addition one must resist the temptation to increase one's caloric intake by indulging too much after a hard workout.
What about a person who already does some walking? Adding 2000 steps (about 1 mile) to your daily routine, without eating more, works out to about 100 extra calories a day. These extra calories don't sound like much, but over a year they add up to 36,500 total extra calories burned. Call it 35,000 so you can have a few days off. These 35,000 extra calories burned correspond to a weight loss of about 10 pounds a year.

Walking 10000 steps a day will not produce the dramatic weight loss promised (but often not delivered) by many fad diets. However consistent daily walking combined with sensible eating habits can lead to significant weight loss over time. This slow and steady weight loss is healthier than dramatic quick weight loss or yo-yo dieting.

For tips on starting a 10000 steps a day program see:
Start Taking 10000 Steps a Day

Why Aren't You Losing?

1. Skipping Breakfast
Running late for work again? Before you bolt out the door on nothing but a cup of coffee, be aware that skipping breakfast can be bad news for weight loss. Chances are, you're going to feel hungry later, and that may be when you have less access to healthy food and are more likely to reach for a doughnut.

Antidote: Keep something on hand that you can eat on the run, such as fruit, yogurt or fat-free cereal bars.

2. Feasting on Family Favorites
When your kids or spouse have a favorite family meal, it's hard to ban it from your menu list. Family favorites, such as lasagna, are often high in fat and calories.

Antidote: Serve yourself a smaller serving of the main meal and a large serving of vegetables or salad. It's also a good idea to try to find a lower-fat version of the family favorite.

3. Social Overeating
Eating whatever you wanted at a restaurant was OK in the days when people ate out only a few times a year. But these days we dine out every week, if not every day.

Antidote: Search the menu for meals cooked using low-fat methods, such as grilling or stir-frying, and ask for sauces and dressings on the side. That way you can control how much you have.

4. Not Counting Every Bite
A few potato chips while you open the mail. Just a few cookies while you help the kids with their homework. When we snack, we tend to be standing up or have our attention focused on another task. This can lead to thinking the calories "don't count." Unfortunately, they do.

Antidote: Set ground rules, such as "I don't eat in the car or while I'm watching television." And always, keep track of everything you eat during the day. Knowing you'll have to write it down will make you think twice about having that one bite.

5. Expecting Too Much Too Soon
After several months of dedication you're down in the dumps—you feel the scale has barely moved. Expecting too much weight loss too soon is an extremely common blunder. A healthy rate of weight loss is up to two pounds a week. But many people aim for more than that, then feel like failures and give up when they don't reach that unrealistically high goal.

Antidote: Make "slow and steady" your mantra. If you really don't believe that one to two pounds lost amounts to much, lift two pounds of butter the next time you're at the supermarket. You'll realize how well you're doing.