Phentermine RX Online

CALORIES IN, CALORIES OUT

05.24.2007

The key to effective weight loss

If you want to lose weight, you will almost always have to reduce your total daily intake of calories. When you eat fewer calories that your body burns, you lose weight. But exactly how much should you restrict calories? There is such a thing as eating too little, and many dieters make this mistake. If you lose too much weight too quickly, you will not keep it all off. Most rapid weight loss is nothing more than fluid lost from cells when the body uses protein and carbohydrate stores instead of fat to balance energy metabolism. When you are trying to lose weight for good, only fat loss counts. Protein loss will decrease your muscle mass, slowing your metabolism and sabotaging further weight loss efforts. When you use up carbohydrate stores, you deplete your energy and become too tired to burn calories through movement. In both cases, your body adjusts by slowing your metabolism.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, start by reducing your calorie intake to 500 calories fewer than you need to maintain your current body weight. Since a pound of fat contains about 3500 calories, you will lose at least a pound a week this way. Once that stops (which will happen when you reach the body weight supported by the lower amount of calories), you can reduce your daily intake by another 200 calories. This gradual reduction will ensure that your metabolism stays up and your body will have time to establish a new energy balance. Never eat less than 1200 calories in a day. If you do this for any length of time, your body will go into “starvation mode,” and your metabolism will slow down in an attempt to keep you from starving. This can have a long-term effect on your ability to burn calories and lose weight, and it explains why people who go on starvation-type diets often end up weighing more than they did when they started the diet.

The most effective weight loss plan includes light exercise along with calorie reduction to further motivate your metabolism. You will not lose a lot of fat and keep it off over the long term if your metabolism is sluggish. Any increase in metabolism will make your body more efficient at burning calories, so exercise is very important. Just be sure to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.