Weight Loss Article

The principle of losing weight is pretty simple - 'Burn more calories then you consume and you will lose weight'

The principle is a lot easier than the reality of having to create a calorie deficit of 3500 calories to lose just one pound of weight.

To put that into perspective, an average workout for an hour would burn between 500 - 600 calories. An average calorie intake for a female is 2000 calories a day and 3000 for a male.

So based on exercise alone, 7 gym sessions burning 500 calories would equal to a one pound weight loss. This can be quite the reality shock to a new gym user who is expecting miracles and they can soon become dishearten after not seeing the results desired.

Making adjustments to the calories coming in as well as the calories being burnt in the gym can help create a larger calorie deficit

Let's for example take Miss X, who after recording her calorie intake for a week discovers she is consuming on average 2700 calories a day. She is not currently gaining weight and is not taking part in any serious activity.

The fact that Miss X isn't gaining any weight means that she is currently balanced between her expenditure and her intake of calories. In order for Miss X to lose weight, she will need to upset her current balance so that there are more calories going out than coming in.

She can attack this for both ends (coming in and going out) If she was to cut 500 calories a day from her diet which could be easily done through diet adjustments rather than cutting items out and then started to exercise on a regular basis, say 4 times a week burning 600 calories through using interval training she would create a deficit of:

Intake = 500 x 7 = 3500 less calories in each week

Expenditure = 600 x 4 = 2400 more calories burnt each week

Total deficit = 5900

If this deficit was maintained over a 4 week period, Miss X could expect to reach 23,600 calories or nearly a 7lbs weight loss.

The key is making the right adjustments to your diet and using the most effective type of training in the gym to really maximise your weight loss efforts.