Hi

Happy New Year!! It's the time of year that a lot of people make resolutions about weight loss & getting back in to shape. So, I thought I'd talk a little about the best way to drop those extra pounds. Do you know what your BMR(Basil Metabolic Rate) is? Well, it's the number of calories your body needs every day to maintain bodily functions such as digestion, breathing, heart beat, tissue repair, etc. These are the calories your body uses before you do any of your regular daily activities. So, let's say you are a woman, weighing 125lbs.....you would need to consume a minimum of 1200 calories a day to maintain your BMR. If you eat less than that, then what happens is, your metabolism starts to slow down so that you need less calories to survive on. That means, that if you decide you want to lose 10 pounds and you starve yourself to do it, (by eating less that 1200 cal. per day), then after the weight is lost, and you resume your regular eating habits, you will gain back all the weight you lost, plus more. If you do this routine frequently it's what's called yoyo dieting. The average woman who is moderately active probably needs around 1800 - 2500 calories a day to maintain BMR and body weight. Let's say you consume 2500 calories a day, and you're moderately active. In order to lose that 5-10 pounds you need to reduce the amount of calories you consume, & increase the amount you burn through activities. Always remembering that you must not go below your basal metabolic needs. In order to lose 1 pound of fat, you must burn 3500 calories, and if your goal is to lose a pound a week then you need to burn 500 calories a day. One healthy way to do this is by reducing the calories you eat a day by say 250, and increasing your daily activity to burn an additional 250 calories, which is equal to 500 calories which equals 1 pound in 7 days. By approaching weight loss in this manner, you are more likely to keep it off because you will find it is a lifestyle change that you can sustain fairly easily. You'll be healthier, have more energy, sleep better, AND - you'll make your body younger! You gotta' like that....... Here's a quick formula for women to use to figure out what your approximate BMR is: 655+(4.3xwgt. in pounds)+(4.7xhgt. in inches)-(4.7xage)= BMR And for men the calulation is: 66+(6.3xwgt in pounds)+(12.9xhgt in inches)-(6.8xage)=BMR