It is a very simple equation. A pound of fat is the equivalent of 3500 calories. Thus, if your goal is to lose one pound per week, you essentially need to consume 3500 less calories per week than your body utilizes. Therefore, if you were to reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day, and continue on your normal day to day activities, you would lose about a pound a week.

Not too difficult huh? If you are twenty-five pound overweight, you can reach your ideal weight in less than six months. Losing weight gradually, such as a pound per week, enables you to keep the weight off long-term.

Now the task is to figure out what needs to be cut out of your diet to reduce it by 500 calories per day. I am sure that we can find a few things. In fact, I have compiled a list below to give you some ideas.

1. Stop using cream in your coffee and replace it with milk. This will eliminate 50 calories from your diet.

2. Simply leaving the butter off of your baked potato keeps 100 calories out of your body.

3. Did you know that some refer to a 16 ounce can of pop as liquid candy? Replacing this with flavored water can cut 200 calories per can.

4. Put that Big Mac down and pick up a salad. Doing so will cut up to 460 calories.

5. You do not need that bag of chips. If you agree, you are giving up 300 empty calories. This is a good thing.

6. Pass the corn please, but make sure it has ears. Corn of the cob consists of 80 less calories than canned corn.

7. Regular cream cheese or low-fat cream cheese. What is the difference? About 90 calories, that’s what.

8. While I recommend that you avoid French fries, if you must have them, order the steak-cut fries over the thin fries. The truth is that the thin fries absorb more fat. Making this selection will lower your calorie intake by approximately 50 calories per 4 ounce serving.

While limiting the amount of calories which you take in on a daily basis is one way to lose weight, you can also lose weight by burning more calories. This is done by becoming more physically active. Look at how simple this can be accomplished by directing your attention to the examples below.

1. A 30 minute walk at a brisk pace can do wonders by burning 160 calories.

2. Bike riding is fun. Why not ride for 5 miles and burn 250 calories.

3. Getting on the dance floor and moving your body to the music can burn up to 400 calories in as little as one hour.

4. Not only is swimming fun, it is also a great way to burn 500 calories in just 60 minutes.

5. I bet you did not realize how healthy gardening can be. Due to the bending and stretching, you can burn 250 calories by simply playing in your garden.

6. You should take up tennis. Tennis is one of those sports which enables you to burn 800 calories in an hour of fun.

The above calorie burning figures are based upon the activities of a 130 pound woman. Therefore, if you weigh more than 130 pounds, you will burn more calories than what is stated above. This is great new. Also, these activities not only cause your body to burn calories, but also gain muscle. Muscle enables your body to burn more calories in a resting state.

If you want to see the best results, cut back on your calories and exercise. However, do not starve yourself. If you eat less than one-thousand calories per day, your body will be convinced that it is starving, and your metabolism will slow down drastically as a defensive mechanism against starvation.

Just keep your calorie intake in a reasonable range, and exercise consistently. Keep track of both your calorie intake and exercise over the months, and stay motivated. You will see great results.

Cheryl Carter is an expert in healthy weight loss, and the inventor of the Weight Loss Oracle weight loss software.

Unsuccessful diets, and uncontrollable obesity may lead you to believe that losing excess fat is difficult. However, it is quite basic. At least on paper. The only thing that you need to do is keep the calories that you expend greater than the calories that you consume.

Your first task is to identify how many calories you are burning daily. There are a few formulas that have been utilized over the years that anticipate how many calories you expend each day. Generally, these formulas are based on your sex, age, weight, height and level of activity. When applying these formulas, be aware that the answer you receive is merely an estimate. It is not a rigid number that never changes day to day. It will in fact fluctuate.

Healthy weight loss is believed to consist of shedding one to two pounds weekly. While it is achievable to lose more, it may be harmful to do so.

Okay, how many calories do you actually have to cut out of your intake? One pound of body fat amounts to about 3500 calories. If you hope to lose 1 pound in one week, you need to cut three-thousand five-hundred calories out of your diet every week. While this might sound like a lot, per day, it comes out to a 500 calorie deficit. This is very achievable.

Your next step, is to determine how you want to do away with any unwanted weight. You can get rid of 500 calories from your diet daily, or amplify the volume of calories you utilize by 500 calories per day. An implementation of these two methods is how you will see the biggest gains.

As with any undertaking, you must keep track of how you are doing. Therefore, I strongly suggest that you set goals. While it may be your main goal to lose 25 pounds in the next 6 months, that goal should be accomplished via smaller daily and weekly goals. For instance, you know that you will have to consume 500 less calories per day than you expend in order to have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories in a given week.

Keep in mind that when you hit your daily goals, you are also hitting your weekly goals, and when you hit your weekly goals, you also hit your monthly goals. Your monthly goals are what lead up to your ultimate goal of losing 25 pounds in 6 months. Stay the course and you will get there.

Learn more about fitness weight loss. Stop by Melanie Kopp’s site where you can find out all about weight loss plans and what they can do for you.