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from http://chetday.com/3500calorieformula.htm
By Tom Venuto, CSCS NSCA-CPT

Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…

Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea.

Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, “3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?” His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.

Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:

Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit

* 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).

* But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.

* The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit

* Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.

* Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)

* Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.

* whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss

* The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.

* If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.

* If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.

* But if you createa 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap)

* If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person

* Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight

* Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)

* Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)

So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works “on paper” anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit
20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit
25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit
31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)
50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)

(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch & Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. Based on this research, however, we see that there can be a big difference between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.

If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative, and you can probably use a more aggressive deficit safely without as much worry about muscle loss or metabolic slowdown.

If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get ready for competition, you would want to be very cautious about using aggressive calorie deficits. You’d be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.

The bottom line is that it’s not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut “depends”…

Another interesting article on the benefits of drinking water:

Please feel free to share your opinions in regards to this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/16really.html?no_interstitial

I can’t remember where I got this article from, but it is pretty interesting…

10 Reasons Your Boyfriend Is Making You Fat
posted @7:00am ET on February 16, 2009

Ladies, with Valentine’s Day behind you, it’s time to take off your love blinders and face the truth: YOUR BOYFRIEND IS MAKING YOU FAT!
It’s not just that seven-course meal he gave you as a gift… or the 10-pound box of caramel-choked chocolates you and he feasted on afterwards.

No, it’s more the pattern of behavior that comes with the territory when you’re entrenched in a relationship with a man.

Jenna Bergen, author of the hot-selling new book, Your Big Fat Boyfriend: How to Stay Thin When Dating a Diet Disaster (Quirk Books), says, “Gaining weight is every woman’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately, your boyfriend may be to blame!

“Studies show that when a woman is in a relationship, she almost always gains weight.”

Jenna, a Spinning instructor and yoga guru who’s also the health and wellness expert for PhillyMag.com, isn’t trying to break up anyone’s relationship. She merely wants you to break the cyle and regain control of your weight and health.

“Your Big Fat Boyfriend doesn’t have to be fat to make you gain extra pounds,” she notes. “And it’s not like he’ll force you to join him in bad eating behavior.

“It’s a simple matter of genetics and behaviors that are not as deadly for a man’s weight as they are for a woman’s.”

Your Big Fat Boyfriend will make you laugh while it makes you go “A HA!” Follow Jenna’s tips and advice and you can be happy in a relationship and happy with your body and diet.

Jenna promises readers will discover:

• The differences in male and female metabolisms
• How to eat healthful meals when dining at not-so-healthy places
• Creative date ideas that will keep couples active
• Good-for-him (and her!) recipes that taste great and won’t leave the guy hungry

Get ready now to check out Jenna’s top 10 reasons why you’ve been gaining pounds since you’ve gained a boyfriend or husband.
10 Reasons Your Boyfriend Is Adding Baggage to Your Backside
1. He’s a guy.
His mind stores sports stats and music trivia like a sponge sucks up water — not health and nutrition facts. No matter how often you tell him, prod him or outright throw up your hands and scream, his mind will not hold onto the following words: fat, calories, daily allowances, nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, or food groups.

2. He can always eat.
He just consumed a humungous lunch. An hour later, he’s hungry. Again. And while his metabolism burns faster than a head full of hairspray, allowing him to shovel in huge quantities of food without it showing up anywhere on his bod, you have to …
spend 30 minutes on the treadmill to burn off a single piece of chocolate.

3. Big is better.
His palms are almost three times the size of your little hands, and his idea of a “serving” is equally as large.

4. You’re his new BFF.
You love him, he loves you, and you’ve secured a spot in his top five. You’re now the first person he thinks to call — about everything. But this new title of BFF is heavy — pun intended — with responsibility. You’re also now his first call for midnight Taco Bell runs or grabbing wings and beer for Sunday night football.

5. He thinks dieting is dumb.
A girl who pounds beers with the boys or is as excited as he is over the three-pizzas-for-$10 deal is much cooler and fun than a dieting diva who refuses to eat anything other than rice cakes.

6. He loves you in sweatpants.
Nothing is better than finding a boy that loves you just as much in heels and a skimpy top as he does when you’re lounging in front of the TV for a four-hour Entourage marathon. Of course, lounging usually comes with snacking.

7. He’s too cozy with the couch.
Don’t be surprised if the last time he swung a racket was playing Wii. If you’ve got your own personal lazy boy, it’s safe to assume the most weekend movement he’ll muster is the short path between the couch and the fridge — and the chances of burning any calories with him are probably pretty slim.

8. Cooking = Takeout.
Unless you’re one of the lucky few that dates a chef, the extent of your boyfriend’s culinary skills is grilled cheese, Ramen noodles and a drawer stuffed full of takeout menus.

9. He shops like a 5-year-old.
Now that Mom’s not around to keep the fridge filled, it’s a good chance he’s living out his childhood fantasy and buying every snack food he pleases. One-hundred calorie packs? Please. One foot inside his place and you’re held captive by a multitude of bottomless bags of mania-inducing munchies.

10. The only veggie he eats is fried.
If broccoli is his kryptonite, chances are that his plate will be filled with foods you’d normally avoid.

Hungry for more great insights and a smorgasbord of testimonials from women like you who’ve packed on weight since entering a relationship?

We urge you to head out and buy a copy of Your Big Fat Boyfriend. Or you could get a FREE COPY of this delightful book and lose weight by becoming a Diet.com Premium Member.

Yes, to lose weight and get a free book, all you need to do is click here and join today.

Now that’s what we call one big fat deal!

Alex Kostich
Active.com

We’re well into the new year, and for many of us that means we’ve had enough time to stick to our New Years Resolution to lose weight.
By now, results should be apparent — either you’re making progress, or things aren’t going the way you’d hoped. Regardless, you could probably improve upon your weight-loss resolution and shed those hard-to-lose pounds without having to resort to crash diet plans and fitness boot camps.

While such tactics have their place and are a great way to kick-start a lifestyle change at the beginning of the year, its the smaller things on a daily basis that might make the difference between the weight you’d like to be and the weight you are.

The following is a list of 10 simple ways to modify your everyday lifestyle to ensure healthy weight loss and long term results.

The idea of this list isnt to guilt readers into practicing each suggestion, but rather to illuminate examples of common habits we all share–habits that are easily broken and that just might be preventing us from shedding those last few pounds.

1. The Breakfast Rush
Many of us lead active, busy lifestyles that simply don’t allow us enough time to eat a healthy breakfast. As a result, we stop at Starbucks on the way to work and think nothing of spending $6 on a latte and a muffin. While this might be a convenient way to jump-start your morning with a jolt of caffeine, you could be consuming as much as 45 grams of fat in that “snack” alone (for the average 2000-calorie diet, that’s over two-thirds the daily recommended fat intake of 66 grams!).

Instead, consider buying ready-made fresh fruit bowls at your local grocery store, and if you absolutely need that caffeine, then consider switching to plain coffee rather than the fancy cream-based coffee-shop offerings.

Also keep in mind that coffee is a diuretic, meaning that it dehydrates you of the vitamins and nutrients you consume at the most important part of the day–the morning.

2. 20 Minutes a Day
Regardless of your current workout routine, try finding an additional 20 minutes a day. It might mean waking up earlier or staying at the gym an extra half-hour. Assuming you arent a regular runner, take this time to jog two miles. It should only take between 15 and 20 minutes. This is a short-enough distance to minimize the likelihood of shin splints or other running-related injuries for the uninitiated (though always exercise with caution–and a good pair of shoes).

Jogging this short distance six days a week, you will log nearly two marathons a month. Try telling anyone you wont lose a few pounds running a marathon every two weeks!

3. Dont Get Fried!
It might be easy to eat healthy most of the time, but the lunch hour offers plenty of temptations to clog your arteries with unnecessary fat. You might feel good about ordering that grilled chicken sandwich, but the french fries that unexpectedly come on the plate are loaded with oily fat and useless calories.

What about other appetizers and side dishes? They may taste great but consider the fat content: corn chips, onion rings, calamari, refried beans–all pack an unbelievably high caloric and fat-gram count.

When ordering your lunch, ask what comes on the side and if necessary request a substitute–salad, cooked vegetables, or fruit are wise alternatives.

4. Relax With Activity
Try making a conscientious effort to break out of a sedentary habit on the weekend in favor of a more pulse-quickening form of relaxation (this is not necessarily “working out”). Perhaps you spend a large part of your Sundays watching football, or lounging out by the pool. While these are luxuries we all enjoy in that sacred privilege known as “free time,” there are ways to enjoy such time with recreational activities that are non-sedentary.

Walking the dog, going on a bike ride, kayaking or rock climbing, hiking on outdoor trails these are all activities that can be enjoyable and relaxing while simultaneously offering light exercise.

5. Eat Dessert–No, Really!
My philosophy has always been that life is too short to skimp on dessert, so satisfy that sweet tooth with reckless abandon! Just make sure to treat yourself to the right things. Substitute frozen yogurt for ice cream. If you like sorbet, spoon some into a bowl and cover it with fresh berries.

Read labels in the grocery store and find low-fat alternatives to high-fat desserts. These days, nearly everything but crme brulee has a dietary alternative, you just have to find it. If you absolutely crave that bowl of ice-cream, treat yourself in moderation and move on; don’t try to “make up” for the dessert by skipping a future meal.

6. Choose your carbs wisely
Carbohydrates come in many different forms: White bread, pasta, candy, and sugar cereals are all loaded with carbs, but these are “simple” carbs that offer a quick fix. Eating such foods may satisfy hunger cravings in the short term, but you will consume many calories, digest them quickly and be hungry again very soon.

Try to pick “complex” carbs that take longer to break down once you eat them; examples are whole grains, bran cereal, and oatmeal.

Granted, you may not always be able to avoid simple carbs, but then just pair them with something else. Instead of a bagel for your fat-free lunch, eat half a bagel but eat it with cheese or some milk and yogurt on the side (the protein found in these foods will fill you up more than the plain bagel will).

7. Say No to Butter
Granted, butter has a bad rap and rightly so; it’s all fat. However many of us maintain that we absolutely have to have it–on toast, on a bagel, or over vegetables. But butter is surprisingly easy to avoid, even if you love the taste and texture.

For starters, there are butter substitutes on the market that taste great. Apple butter is a favorite of triathletes watching their fat intake. And if you keep an open mind, spreading jam, honey, or peanut butter over your toast or bagel can be just as satisfying as slathering it with–animal fat.

The fat grams you will eliminate from your diet, if you are a casual butter-user, could make a significant difference to your overall long-term weight goals.

8. Take a Walk
Everyone has experienced the onset of sudden hunger, though we deal with it in different ways. The most common response to hunger is to eat something–anything–within minutes (even if it comes from the office vending machine, not always the place to go for nutritional choices).

Instead, take a short walk when you feel hungry. The pulse-quickening and subsequent rise in body temperature of this activity will suppress your appetite slightly and give you more time to identify a healthier choice of food to eat (see next point).

9. Snack Healthy
Snacking is the culprit for most people’s failure to lose weight. There is nothing inherently wrong with snacking between meals–in fact, it is recommended–however it is important to nibble on the right things.

For salty cravings, resort to pretzels or baked bagel chips instead of potato chips or Tostitos. For sweet cravings, try fruit. Raisins are a good snack because they are low in fat but high in carbohydrates, if you plan to work out shortly thereafter.

Be cautious when relying on the multitude of energy bars on the market–many bill themselves as meal substitutes (meaning that they pack loads of nutrients but also enough calories to be a standalone meal!). Granola has a reputation as a healthy cereal/snack but it can be loaded with fat.

10. Find New Ways to Sweat
Assuming you are a somewhat regular exerciser, make sure to change your routine every six to 10 weeks if you don’t already cross-train. While we each have our favorite and most-effective way of burning calories, it is easy to slip into a rut and use the elliptical trainer or stationary bike day in, day out.

The problem with this is twofold: Doing the same thing every day causes your body to adapt to the challenge (meaning that you exert less energy the longer you do it). While this is an indicator that you are in better shape, you may not continue losing weight if that is your goal.

In addition, habitually practicing the same form of exercise is far more likely to result in overuse injuries than cross-training, which allows your body to recover from its previous activity.

Rotator-cuff injuries in swimmers and IT-band/plantar fascia inflammations in runners are common examples of injuries that occur from athletic overkill.

In the end, the bottom line of any successful diet plan is really quite simple:

Consume (X) calories, burn (more-than-X) calories

The list above should serve as a helpful guide for those hoping to shed those last few stubborn pounds. While none of the behaviors suggested are as challenging or effective as the first few weeks of a new diet, they are nonetheless incremental ways to improve your overall eating and exercise habits.

Over the long term, adopting such “good” habits as a normal part of your lifestyle will help melt away the bad habits — and help melt away those extra pounds!