Managing Your Weight
This Blog is for my readers that believe they are having problems controlling their weight. I received the request for weight control information from Courtney who believes she is a little overweight. What I saw when my family and I met Courtney was an attractive young lady that is experiencing normal weight swings. This is where many of us are. We are concerned that our temporary weight increases may spiral out of control producing weight gain year after year that would be difficult to turn around.
There are several ways of managing your weight. There are many books on the subject at your local book stores. Some of the books focus on out-of-balance diets while others on unrealistic exercise programs, and so on. I prefer instead to identify food excesses and highlight increases in level of activity that make it reasonably easy to achieve weight loss and weight control.
The excesses come in the form of extra calories that are not needed to achieve a healthy lifestyle. High sugar and fat items such as cookies, pastries, pies, cakes, high fat meats, oils and butter, and egg yolks, need to be minimized or avoided all together.
To lose or maintain weight, I also recommend exercise. To burn more calories, you will need to increase your level of activity. When most people think of increasing their level of activity, they immediately think of exercises such as jogging and weight training. However, there are many daily activities that can significantly increase your level of activity. These are vacuuming your house, washing/waxing your car, and walking. The Metabolic Calculator (Calculator) on my website provides the Site Visitor with the ability to calculate and thereby manage their level of activity. The Calculator levels of activity range from Level 1 (L1) to Level 19 (L19). A good beginning for many of the Site Visitors is at L3 or L4 then work your way up to higher levels that meet your weight setting goals.
L3 includes but is not limited to walking, vacuuming, and washing the car. One hour a day of either one or combination of these activities will increase your caloric burn rate by 1 calorie per pound of weight. I weigh 190 pounds. What this means is that when I walk for 1 hour, I will burn an extra 190 calories on that day.
Putting it all together: I can burn close to 380 calories a day by increasing my level of activity to an average of 14.0 calories per pound. At this increased level of activity, I will lose 1 pound of weight in a little over a week. This may not seem like a lot. But consider what a pound of fat looks like when placed on a table. It is a lot. When I reduce or eliminate cookies, pastries, cakes, and pies from my diet and lower my intake of butter, mayo, and other oils, I can reduce my caloric intake by another roughly 400 calories. A total eliminattion of 780 calories per day will lower my weight by almost 2 pounds every week.
This is a simplified look at what changes in diet and level of activity can do to help you manage your weight. However, it clearly shows how the combination of dietary changes in combination with increased level of activity makes it easier to accomplish weight management.
So don’t wait. Get started today eating fewer sweets and fats and begin an exercise program that at a minimum includes walking to maintain a trim and fit body at the weight of your choosing.
Jorge “George” Lugo
