What Is Weight Loss
Over half of all Americans are overweight, meaning they are at a weight that is associated with increased health risks. Weight loss is a priority issue for most of us and yet it is a constant struggle. Scientifically, there is a very simple explanation of weight loss. Simply burn more calories than you consume.
Women have more body fat throughout their lives as compared to men. After menopause, women generally gain weight. Research is still conflicting as to whether this is due solely to menopause or solely to age (because men also typically gain weight as they become older), or perhaps a combination of age and menopause. Our ability to maintain weight loss is hampered also with age. I myself feel this also may be caused by my creaky knees and legs, which makes long walks a bit more difficult.
When women are taking hormone replacement therapy, they are just as likely to gain weight as women taking a sugar pill (placebo)and have the same difficulty at maintaining weight loss. This means that the hormones are not causing the weight gain but rather that menopause itself, in conjunction with age, is likely to be responsible.
Whether you are trying to lose 5 pounds or more than 50, the same simple laws of physics determine whether or not you will lose weight and how fast your weight loss will occur. Remembering these simple guidelines and putting them into practice can lead to weight loss without the aid of any special diet plans, books, or medications.
Our weight is determined by the amount of energy that we take in as food and the amount of energy we expend in the activities of our day. Energy is measured in calories. If your weight remains constant, you are probably taking in the same amount of calories you burn each day. If you’re slowly gaining weight over time, it is likely that your caloric intake is greater than the number of calories you burn through your daily activities.
Everyone is in control of the amount of food he or she consumes each day, so our intake of calories is something we can control. To a major degree, we can also control our output of energy, or the number of calories we burn each day. The number of calories we burn each day is dependent upon our basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories we burn per hour simply by being alive and maintaining body functions and our level of physical activity.
For some people, due to genetic (inherited) factors or other conditions, the resting metabolic rate (BMR) can be slightly higher or lower than average. Our weight loss is determined also by how many calories we burn at rest — more calories are required to maintain your body in its present state, the greater your body weight. A 100-pound person requires less energy (food) to maintain body weight than a person who weighs 200 pounds.
Lifestyle and work habits partially determine how many calories we need each day. Someone whose job involves heavy physical labor will naturally burn more calories in a day and have faster weight loss than someone who sits at a desk most of the day (a sedentary job). For people who do not have jobs that require intense physical activity, exercise or increased physical activity can increase the number of calories burned which will increase your natural weight loss.
As a rough estimate, an average woman 31-50 years of age who leads a sedentary lifestyle needs about 1,800 calories per day to maintain a normal weight. A man of the same age requires about 2,200 calories. Any amount of calories less than this number will usually result in weight loss. Participating in a moderate level of physical activity (exercising three to five days per week) requires about 200 additional calories per day.
As you can see, weight loss is just a matter of taking in less calories than your body burns. I know this is the scientific explanation for weight loss, but somehow, I’ve never been able to see it as that simple.
Marilyn Nelson
Skype: marnels
806.543.1345
http://lose-weight-today.net/
