Counting calories for weight loss

Weightless is a simple process. All one needs to do is figure out the calories burnt by the body on a daily basis and eat less than that. Calculate your calorie expenditure here. My burn rate is 1700. So I eat around 1300-1400 calories per day which means that I have a deficit of 400 calories (1700 - 1300). The difference is more when I workout.To lose every pound one needs a deficit of 3500 pounds. It's that simple. Do it diligently and over time pounds begin to shed.

As a rule of thumb women should never eat below 1200 calories per day and men below 1500. Eating too little slows down your metabolism. The body gets tricked into thinking that its a famine and not enough food is available so starts holding onto the fat available. Children below 18 should not restrict calories, you are still growing and need at least 2000 calories per day to continue growing, restrictive eating will do you a world of bad in the long run.

Jillian Micheal's 30 day shred

I'm looking to lose about 15 pounds and picked up Jillian Micheals DVD for my daily workout. I've read lots of reviews by people who've lost many inches if not pounds on this 30 day program. Inches are what counts anyway!

The biggest thing that attracted me to this was the workout is only 20 minutes! No excuses for not having 20 minutes to spare in a day no matter what our day job is. The only equipment required are hand weights and a yoga mat for ab exercises. I suggest starting with 2 pound weights and then moving up to 3 and 5. I started with 5 pounds and was unable to do most of the moves which can be very demotivating and not to mention you might hurt yourself!

This DVD contains 3 levels of workouts of increasing intensity. It is generally recommended to do each level for 10 days. Though there is no information if the 30 days need to be done at a stretch, I recommend weekly 2 days rest. The body needs some time to recover too. I don't believe in beating my body into submission. I did level 1 for 10 days (with breaks in between) and then moved into level 2. Level 1 was HARD for me. I haven't worked out at all for  almost 2 years not and I'm terribly out of shape. I couldn't do push ups  at all. Since then I've moved into Level 2 and have been on it for 2 days now. I don't find it as hard as level 1.

Results: After only 10 days of working out I've lost 1 inch on my waist and one on hips. My scale hasn't moved though. My endurance and strength has also gone up which is a HUGE plus for me.

I'm following two other DVDs along with this. More on this in the next post.