Follow these tips and strategies to lose weight for the summer season. No expensive or exotic equipment, meal plans, or powders and pills are necessary to look and feel great with this easy plan. This works for men and women and is simple to follow for easy weight loss for the Summer or any time.
Easy Calorie Counting for Weight Loss
A general rule of thumb for a one to two pound a week weight loss plan is to aim for 1,300-1,500 calories a day for women and 1,800-2,000 calories a day for men. It is a good idea to write down and add up calories consumed throughout the day in order to stay within calorie limits. This can simply be done in a notebook, or by using a phone app, or a computerized spreadsheet. Every little calorie should be logged. Calorie amounts for foods can be found on many websites and most restaurants even give calorie amounts on the restaurant website. This can be a bit of a task for a few days, but is well worth the effort and becomes easy as time goes on and it becomes habit.
Easy Eating Plan for Weight Loss
Eating smaller meals throughout the day can keep metabolism up and help stave off hunger. However, it is more important to stay within calorie limits than to try and eat at times that are inconvenient or not conducive to one’s schedule and lifestyle. Eating the majority of allotted calories too early may sabotage the efforts of a person who prefers to do most of their eating in the evening.
Additionally, healthier foods tend to be lower in calories and therefore fit into the calorie limits well, but just eating healthy foods can prevent weight loss as well. For example, the average apple has 100 calories. A person could eat five apples for 500 calories or two slices of cheese pizza for approximately the same amount of calories. Choosing the pizza may prevent a feeling of deprivation, be more satisfying, and prevent straying above calorie limits.
Exercise Plan for Weight Loss
The important rule of thumb for exercise is to choose activities that are enjoyable and reasonable. Aim for three to four workouts a week that are about an hour in duration. Summertime, especially for people just coming out of a cold season, can offer more variety of activities which can make working out easier and more fun.
Some ideas for free activities include biking, walking, jogging, swimming and roller-skating. Low-cost activities include joining a local recreational team, signing up for classes at a local Y or rec center, and purchasing or renting workout DVDs. For a few more dollars a month, a gym membership or purchasing gym equipment for home are both good options. Mixing up activities throughout the week is a good idea to prevent boredom and disinterest.
Energy In/Energy Out: No Complicated Diet Plan Required
Keep in mind that the calorie limits are the most important part of and weight loss plan. Walking for an hour will typically only burn the amount of calories in half of a plain bagel or one granola bar. Many people make the mistake of overestimating how many calories can be burned by exercising. In order to lose weight, the number of calories burned in a day must outnumber the amount of calories taken in. It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound. Therefore, it takes several days of burning more calories than are taken in to lose that pound. Only serious athletes or people who workout many hours a week can typically accomplish weight loss through exercise alone. For most people, cutting calories is the key factor with workouts added to keep toned and fit.
The Bottom Line for Easy Weight Loss
The key to summertime weight loss is calorie restriction and consistency. Working out can aid in fitness and health, but is only icing on the cake, so to speak, to any weight loss/management plan. Logging and counting calories is easy, free, and allows freedom in choosing foods and the times at which to eat those foods.
No sources were consulted for this article. The author has 20 years of fitness and nutrition experience.
Jill Weatherwax - I am a Middle School Science Teacher at a NASA Explorer School in Michigan. My favorite Science topics are Astronomy, Ecology, and ...
