The Ins and Outs of Dieting!

January 12th, 2010 · No Comments

Please welcome my Guest Poster: Fitness-Guru, Jessy! Be sure to make her feel at home and show her some love by visiting on of her sites! ~Kelli

The Ins and Outs of Dieting

Everyone seems to be on a diet these days, and it is no surprise since the CDC estimates that over 60% of Americans are either overweight or obese. A person who is overweight has a maximum of 15 pounds more then what they should have. Obese is 15 pounds and more.

Thus, if one of your New Year resolutions was to start dieting, this post is right up your alley!

Many of the diets out there are very recognizable to anyone, from the Atkins to the cabbage soup, grapefruit, Hollywood miracle diet and even the rice or South Beach diet to name a few. So how can you use diets and exercise to lose weight? Read on to find out.

Ever wondered why it is so easy to gain weight but hard to lose it? The human body is built very efficiently and most of the times we gain too much weight because we’re overfilling or tanks. That is why going on a good dieting program coupled with proper exercise is the answer to losing weight and keeping it off.

When resting, such as sitting, lounging etc. the body burns 12 calories per pound of body weight per day. So if your weight is 170 pounds, the equation would equal the following: 170 x 12 = 2040 calories burned daily. These calories burned are used for every body function imaginable.

The human body is built to manage the burning of calories efficiently. That is why a person running a marathon (26 miles), burns about 2600 calories. That would work out to 100 calories per mile. Because of this efficient mechanism, it is easy to see why the human body can gain weight so easily because of the excess calories packed onto it.

Take for example the average fast food meal. The average sandwich from a fast food restaurant is over 700 calories. French fries add another 550 calories and a drink adds a remaining 300. That adds up to over 1500 calories. If you weigh 130 pounds, that is your daily calorie max right there.

See how easy it is to gain weight? This is where dieting comes in. Diets suggest monitoring the calorie intake so that your body is not forced to store extra calories as fat. Couple this with a proper exercise plan and it’s easy to see how you can lose weight once you stick to the program.

So the key here is to choose a proper dieting program. Not all diets are created equally and many can be detrimental such as low carb diets. Once you have found one that provides the proper balance between nutritional foods and weight cutting meals, you’re on the right track.

Last, but not least, you want to add a proper exercise plan. This will vary depending on weight, height and age. But any exercise program should be one that is not strenuous (you’re not building muscle so don’t overdo it), and should be effective enough to burn enough to not only burn calories consumed but body fat as well.

The guest post is by Jessy who writes about fitness and dieting on Chick and Fit. She has also started a new blog recently and hopes to grow it soon: How Diets.