There’s More To Weight Loss than Exercise
By Gemma Hughes

So, you’re exercising. I am really glad to hear that. You’re sleeping better, you have more energy, less back pain, a better attitude, you are burning calories and feeling stronger. You may have even lost some weight, but…not as much as you had hoped for. So what’s the problem?
The problem is diet. While you cannot healthfully reach your weight loss goals without exercise, and can’t possibly keep the weight off without a good exercise regimen, unfortunately, when loosing weight diet plays a much larger part than exercise.
When you started to exercise, you may remember, you were a lot hungrier than usual. This is because you were burning calories by being active, so your body got hungry, and you ate, and gave your body back the calories you had burned.
In order to lose weight, however, there needs to be a calorie deficit. Your body needs to burn more calories than it takes in. This way the body will then turn to its fat stores and burn the fat to create the calories it needs.
Everyone needs a different amount of calories, this is due to each persons very individual metabolic rate. If you have access to a gym or nutritionist that has a Body Gem and can actually test your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) great. Go and get it tested. It’s a good number to know. If you don’t have access to this tool, you can get an estimate by going to www.Bodybuilding.com (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm). Fill in the data and get your average estimated Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). This is the amount of calories your body would use if you did almost no activity all day.
The human body needs a bare minimum of 1200 calories each day just to perform its cellular functions and be healthy. So, whatever you do, don’t eat less than that. Now you have to do some math. If your RMR is 1100 calories per day then it would be a good start to eat 1400 calories each day, and then exercise and be sure to burn 300 calories. To calculate your caloric expenditure I recommend getting a heart rate monitor. I like polar brand (go to http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/Pages/TZ-2004-Pages/HRM/HRM-model/polar/All.html).
If you start to gain weight, then you should increase your calorie burning slightly and lower your caloric intake slightly. But if you start to lose weight at a rate higher than 2 pounds a week, then it’s time to increase your caloric intake, and be very happy that you have a high metabolism!
Loosing more than 2 pounds a week puts added stress on the kidneys and other organs, but can also create that baggy skin look since your body is shrinking too fast and the skin can’t keep up.
So count those calories and get moving. you can do it, it takes time, commitment and a lot of work. But the benefits are so worth it in the end.