One day a few years back my sister and I were having lunch. After her meal she popped this little pill. I asked her what it was and her response was, "OH, it's a fat burner." Well you can only imagine how I just about fell out of my seat. I, of course, went into my lecture and she, of course, didn't care to hear it until the day she was rushed to the hospital with a resting heart rate of 180 beats per minute.
We are all looking for that magic pill or miracle weight loss diet and most of us will try anything even if it seems ridiculous, but did you know that weight loss is actually easy math? The calories you burn need to be more than the calories you take in. Simple isn't it? Well, then why are we such a fat society? Because we don't move and burn calories and we EAT WAY TOO MUCH!
To get technical, a calorie is the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Celsius. If you're interested in losing weight then you need to initiate a plan that will increase your daily caloric expenditure. First let's understand a couple of things.
1). We burn calories all day long even when we are sleeping. This is your resting metabolic rate or RMR. It's the amount of calories we burn just to be. The more muscle mass we have the more calories we burn because muscle has a high energy demand. We need to increase our muscle mass.
2). The other way we burn more calories is through, yes that's right, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Don't be scared of the term. Physical activity is our friend.
So with this information you can start looking at what you need to do and how much exercise you need daily to expend more calories. First, go to your doctor and do a RMR test to see how many calories you burn daily without exercise. It's a very simple and easy test. Then think about the calories you take in. Have a dietician look it over and make sure it's healthy and appropriate. Then start a resistance training and cardiovascular exercise routine. Make sure you check with your physician before starting any kind of physical activity program.
Let's say you take in 1700 calories a day and through RMR and physical exercise you burn 2500 calories. This is a 800 calorie deficit per day, so within seven days you would lose approximately 1.5 pounds since 3500 calories equal one pound of fat. This is a healthy way to lose weight. Losing 1-2 pounds a week gets you in a lifestyle habit of healthy eating and physical exercise.
Losing weight really is simple math. You don't need a magic pill, drink or crazy quick diet. Just burn more calories than you take in. Do it smart and you can't go wrong!