It’s not that hard to lose weight, in fact it’s a guaranteed process. So, if you’ve noticed that your “love handles” aren’t quite as lovable as it used to be – and you want to get rid of them – you’ve come to the right place.
Diet and exercise, diet and exercise, diet and exercise. We’ve all heard it over and over again. It’s no deep dark secret that that’s how you lose weight. That’s not the problem, keeping motivated is! Good news, by keeping a simple graph of your weight loss successes, it’s a whole lot easier to stay motivated.
Keeping a simple, basic graph of your weight loss success will go a long way toward keeping you excited and on track. You start your chart at 100% of your total weight and as you start to see your percentage of weight loss line going up and up, it gets downright thrilling.
Here’s how to calculate your weight loss percentage. First start off with your initial weight – how much did you weigh when you first started your diet program? Then, subtract the actual amount that you weigh right now. So for example if you weighed 200 pounds at the beginning of your diet program and you’re now at 190 pounds… 200 -190 equals 10 pounds. Now, divide the 10 pounds by the initial weight. So, that means 200 divided into 10 equals 0.05. And finally we multiply our answer, 0.05 times 100 and that equals 5. So up to this point we have lost 5% of our total body weight.
It’s harder to describe than it is to do. Just follow along with your calculator in the above example and you’ll see how easy it is.
Pick a certain time of day, and day of week, and weigh yourself at that time every week. Then calculate your total body percentage of weight loss and add it to your graph. You won’t have to do that very many times before you realize how exciting it can be.
Keep in mind… throughout the day and our bodies fluctuate in weight fairly radically. So be sure to use the same time of day for each weighing session. Not only does our weight fluctuate throughout the day, but it fluctuates from day to day – so use the same day of the week every time too! Because of the fluctuations, it can be discouraging to do this every day, so save it for a once a week thrill.
Be careful that you don’t go overboard. Obviously you have to eat fewer calories than you burn, but you don’t want to get too radical about it. It can be unhealthy and really screw up your metabolism. Create a diet or you can comfortably maintain a 2 -5 pounds a week loss.
3500 is the magic number. That’s the number of calories you need to burn to lose 1 pound. Or, on the other side of it, that’s the number of EXTRA calories you have to take in to gain 1 pound. So to lose 1 pound in 10 days all you have to do is burn off an extra 350 calories per day. (It can be a little more involved, but as a rule of thumb this is true.)
To lose 2 pounds a week you need to burn off 1000 calories per day more than you take in. To lose 5 pounds a week you need to burn off 2500 calories per day more than you eat. There are no ifs, ands, or maybes about it. It’s a scientific process that will always work, for everyone.
Beware… your body does have to have a certain number of calories per day just to survive. This can vary depending on your level of fitness and your activities. For good health a woman’s diet should never fall below 1200 calories per day and men should stick above 1600 calories.
Start a graph today, and in no time you’ll look forward to doing it every week. It’s very motivating (more so than you may think). Award yourself a little gold star every time you reach your goals for the week.
