The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat is the equivalent to 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That is roughly 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week.

All right – that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you’re more than 25 pounds overweight. Studies have shown that those who lose 1-2 pounds a week, are more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for the rest of their life.

So how much exactly IS 500 calories? If you are going to reduce your intake of calories but 500 a day, you need to know what to cut out? Here is how you lose 500 calories a day

* Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories in each cup.

* You really don’t need butter on the baked potato. Savings? 100 calories

*Drink fruit flavored water rather than soda. Savings? 200 calories

* Have a salad instead of that tempting Big Mac. The Big Mac equals 460 calories. Have a fresh salad along with a light dressing? Under 100! Savings? 360 calories

*You can walk right by that bag of potato chips. The average snack bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories

*Eat corn on the ear. There is 165 calories for every 1 cup serving of canned corn. Every ear of corn has 85 calories in them. Savings? 80 calories.

* Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.

* Love those fries and can’t give them up? Switch to the thicker steak cut fries rather than the thinner ones. The thinner frech fries absorb a whole lot more oil than the thicker ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

You cna also lose one pound a week if you up your activity level by 500 calories, if you want to look at it from a exercise perspective. How easy can that be? Take a look:

*Go for a half hour walk around the park. You need to aim for a pace that is little fater than a stroll, but not too fast, you don’t want to get breathless. Burn: 160 calories.

* Get out your bike and take a ride. Aim for about five miles total and if you feel like it you can take on a few moderate hills. Burn: 250 calories

* Go out and dance your heart out. The longer you’re out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you’ll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour

*Swimming is something that is great for you to do and a ton of fun as well. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. A few laps as a slow crawl is wonderufl-if you can get up to an hour you’ll be doing even better! Burn: 510 calories

* Get out into your garden. An hour of working in your garden (i.e. bending over, and stretching) can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.

*Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you’ll be amazed at the difference. An hour of vigorous tennis is one of the most effective calorie burners that are around. Burn: 800 calories

Keep in mind that all of the exercise and calorie numbers are based on a woman’s weight of 130 pounds. If you weigh more then you will definately burn more fat. Would you like an additional bonus to burning calories through exercise? You turn fat into muscle whenever you exercise. Do you know which kind of body tissue burns more calories-even when your not excersing? I’ll give you three guesses. Your right-your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For the best results you can combine food savings and exercise techniques that will effeciently burn the calories. You must keep in mind that if you eat less than 1000 calories a day for more than just a few days that you will convince your body that it is starving and it will slow your metabolism down. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.

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