"sweatsalty:  Steps for healthy weight loss, and keeping it off for good!  Weight loss = calories burned > calories consumed. 3500 calories = 1lb fat The recommended healthy amount of fat to lose = 1-2lbs per week.  If you aim to lose more, your weight loss is too fast. The faster you lose weight, the more likely you'll gain it back. You'll make a dramatic and unsustainable change in your diet/lifestyle, and then you'll switch back to your old ""bad"" ways. Slow weight loss = permanent weight loss. Creating a 500 calorie deficit per day = 1lb of fat loss per week (500x7=3500). Everyone already burns 1200+ calories each day just by leading a sedentary life, by being a couch potato. This is called your AMR. You can create a calorie deficit through cutting calories from food and through exercise. It is more beneficial to burn calories through exercise over cutting calories from food.  Everyone has a specific BMR according to their stats (age, height, weight). This is the MINIMUM amount of calories your body requires in order to survive and keep your heart beating, lungs working, other organs working, etc. Eating below your BMR will slow down your metabolism. In turn, you will burn less and less calories because your body thinks it's starving. This is a natural mechanism in our bodies to protect itself. There is no way around it. Your metabolism WILL slow down. Period. Eventually you will plateau.  Creating a deficit that is too high, will also slow down your metabolism because your body is not getting enough energy to sustain itself. Your muscle will start breaking down, you'll be worn out, etc. Creating a 500 calorie deficit from food will put you way below your BMR, and your metabolism WILL slow down over time. It is better to create a 500 calorie deficit from exercise which will INCREASE your metabolism, making you burn more calories, it will build muscle, which will also allow you to burn calories, and you will have tons more energy, and thus will be able to burn more calories. By eating enough, you will preserve your muscle and burn off fat. If you don't get enough energy, your body will metabolize muscle, thus making you burn less calories and slowing down your metabolism.  Now go here: http://preventdisease.com/healthtools/articles/bmr.shtml to figure out your BMR. Do not eat below that many calories. It's okay to eat below once or twice a week on your REST DAYS. Just make sure it's not by more than 200-300 calories. You probably won't burn much fat by cutting calories from food. (If you are 17 years old or younger, add 500 to the number you get. This calculator is for adults, not teens.) Once you've figured out your BMR, time to figure out your AMR (daily burn). http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-burned.php Set the level to sedentary. This is how many calories your body burns being a couch potato. If you're more active in your lifestyle (you walk around campus/school a lot or at work, then set your level to lightly active, if you play sports then you're moderately active, etc). You obviously burn more calories if you're a tad bit more active. (If you are 17 years old or younger, add 500 to the number you get. This calculator is for adults, not teens.) Eat the amount of calories between your BMR and AMR (rounded up), and then burn 300-500 calories through exercise. Add the amount of calories to your AMR number, to give you the total burn for the day. Then subtract the amount of calories you ate to find out your daily deficit. So for example: My BMR is 1500. My AMR is 1700. If I burn 500 calories at the gym, that brings my burn total up to 2200. If I eat 1600 calories, that gives me a deficit of 600 calories. If I repeated this 6 more times, I would lose 1lb of fat. If I wanted a 1000 calorie deficit (to burn 2lbs a week), I would burn 900 calories at the gym. DO NOT CUT EXTRA CALORIES FROM YOUR FOOD IF YOU PLAN ON HAVING SUCH A HIGH DEFICIT. IT IS COUNTER PRODUCTIVE AND YOU WILL END UP METABOLIZING YOUR MUSCLE. BAD! Not to mention, you would wear yourself out if you tried burning that much. And you would end up getting the munchies! This is why a 500 calorie deficit is HEALTHIEST. If you plan on having a higher deficit, you need to eat a lot more. I would probably eat around 2000-2200 calories if I planned on burning 900 at the gym. The reason you eat a few hundred calories ABOVE your BMR is to ensure your metabolism doesn't slow down. If you only eat your BMR, plus do 300 calories worth of exercise, that's 300 calories your body is burning toward activity, and not toward maintaining the body. So your body will slow down your metabolism to compensate for that energy loss.Cardio is for burning fat. Strength training is for building muscle. Both are equally important when it comes to losing weight. Incorporate both into your workout routine for optimal results. Doing JUST cardio or JUST strength training will not give you optimal results and you will eventually plateau.  I hope this helps! If you have any questions feel free to message me. This was written by inspiremefit"
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