Want a healthy bank account? Manage your money.
Want a healthy body? Manage your calorie account.
Okay, so you're dying to be a loser. Good idea! After all those extra kilos are doing nothing for your looks or mood or heart or lifeline. But if you've been in this struggle for a long time, chances are you have tried all sorts of crash diets, losing and gaining all over again. Truth to tell, you don't need to go on 'a diet', For successful weight loss, there's one and only one simple formula you need to know:
More calories consumed+less calories burned=weight gain
Less calories consumed+more calories burned=weight loss
Makes perfect sense, no?
The body needs at least 1200 Calories to live and work normally. Eating less than this can be dangerous, even lie-threatening. So always plan your weight loss meals in consultation with your doctor.
Understanding the number game
Here's the deal; for every 3500 extra calories you consume you put on one pound. To lose one pound in one week, you need to Burn those 3,500 calories. Divide this by 7, the number of days in a week , and you get 500. That's how many calories you need to burn daily.
You can do it;
- Exercise for 1 hour, choosing an activity that will help you burn those 500 calories. You will need to puff, pant and sweat quite a bit to get the calories off. Some examples:
Vigorous rowing: 502
Kickboxing: 590
Rock climbing (ascending) : 649
Swimming laps freestyle: 590
Bicycling:590
Walking upstairs:472
Running upstairs:885
Biking:258
Stretching:129
Dancing :193
Walking:129
Running:322
Jogging:225
Tennis:225
- Exercise for 30 minutes daily to burn 250 calories, and cut down 250 calories from your meals. This way, you still achieve the target of 500 calories less! The news gets better. You need not starve yourself. Just start eating a little less: If you eat 2 bowls of rice everyday, cut down to one. If you eat 4 biscuits a day, cut down to two. Every morsel you reduce will help cut calories.
HERE ARE A FEW SAMPLE MENU'S FOR SENSIBLE EATING:
Breakfast:
Include cereal, protein, milk, Veggies or fruit. For example, a bowl of oats and a cup of sprouts to start with, and fruit in the early morning or mid-morning. Avoid bananas, grapes and mangoes. High fiber and low sugar fruits are what you need
Mid-morning:
At about 10:30 am, you can have a glass of lemon juice with salt and cumin seeds. Or coconut water, cucumber juice, a light soup, veggies like carrots and radish, or fruits.
Lunch:
One chapati (tortilla) with dal (lentils) stuffing, a bowl each of cooed veggies and yogurt. Brown rice, rich in fiber, is fabulous. Some people don't like the taste. In that case, add loads of veggies to the rice and make pulao. You can also add meat and chicken if you want.
At teatime:
Avoid biscuits. Buy popcorn or munch on roasted soy nuts or chanas. Replace milk tea with green tea.
Dinner:
Good news! In spite of what you might have heard, it's not advisable to skip dinner if you want to lose weight. Just eat it early, so that your body has enough time to process and assimilate the meal. You could have a hearty soup with veggies. Avoid commercial soup because they contain cornstarch, Also include yogurt in your meal. And dessert once in a week after dinner is not a big sin to indulge in!
