It has happened to plenty of people, maybe even to you. Diet and lose weight, come off the diet and gain the weight back. But who wants to diet forever? There is a way to lose weight without a special diet plan, books, or medicine.

Do you want to lose 5 lbs, 10 lbs or 50 lbs? How much weight your lose and how fast you lose it is determined by only one set of principles. We learned that principle when we learned first grade math. Our body weight is determined by the amount of energy that we take in as food and the amount of energy we expend in our daily activities.

Calories are energy. So if you do not gain weight, it isn’t that you do not or cannot gain weight. Rather, you are probably taking in the same amount of calories that you burn each day. If you're slowly gaining weight over time, most likely your caloric intake is greater than the number of calories you burn throughout the day.

Our intake of calories in any given day is completely within our control through the amount of food we eat.  To a large degree, we can control the number of calories we burn each day. The number of calories we burn depends upon the number of calories our body burns just being alive, and our physical activity.

Our weight does determine how much energy (or calories) we burn at rest. Keep in mind that muscle mass burns more calories than fat. So while many say cardio, cardio, cardio is the path to weight loss, a strong muscular body burns more calories, so you should have a plan for both cardiovascular exercise and weight bearing exercises in your fitness program.
 
Lifestyle and work habits partially determine how many calories we need each day. For people who do not have jobs that require intense physical activity, exercise or increased physical activity can increase the number of calories burned.

An average woman 31-50 years of age who leads a sedentary lifestyle needs about 1,800 calories per day to maintain a normal weight. A man of the same age requires about 2,200 calories. Keep in mind this is a very rough estimate. Participating in a moderate level of physical activity (exercising three to five days per week) requires about 200 additional calories per day.

Click "weight loss program" for more information from Answer is Fitness.

When trying to lose weight, most of us have been repeatedly told try to avoid saturated fats. Saturated fats have been put on the "bad for you" list by nutritionists and experts for a long time. However, did you know that there are over 15 types of saturated fats ... and some of them are actually heart healthy? A lot of people will be happy about this since for high fat foods really taste good.

Here are six snacks (well, 5 foods and a drink) that deserve some reconsideration.

Pork Rinds

You think they are bad...These puffy snacks are cut from pigskin. Then they're deep-fried.

But... A 1-ounce serving contains zero carbohydrates, 17 grams (g) of protein, and 9 g fat. That's nine times the protein and less fat than you'll find in a serving of carb-packed potato chips.

Even better, 43% of a pork rind's fat is unsaturated, and most of that is oleic acid—the same healthy fat found in olive oil. Another 13 percent of its fat content is stearic acid, a type of saturated fat that's considered harmless, because it doesn't raise cholesterol levels.

Alcohol

You think it’s bad...It has little nutritional value and is the reason we need the term "beer belly."

But.... Harvard scientists discovered in a study of over 18k men that those who had an average of two drinks every day, 5 to 7 days a week, had the lowest risk of heart attack. And researchers at the University of Buffalo found that men who consume that same daily amount have lower levels of abdominal fat than those who drink only once or twice every 2 weeks but down more than four drinks each time.

Beef Jerky

You think it's bad...It's unhealthy meat that's loaded with preservatives.

But...Beef jerky is high in protein and doesn't raise your level of insulin—a hormone that signals your body to store fat. That makes it an ideal between-meals snack, especially when you're trying to lose weight. And while some beef-jerky brands are packed with high-sodium ingredients, such as MSG and sodium nitrate, chemical-free products are available. If you have high blood pressure, check the label for brands that are made from all-natural ingredients, which reduce the total sodium content.

Sour Cream
You think it's bad...you know 90% of its calories are derived from fat, at least half of which is saturated.

But...The percentage of fat is high, but the total amount isn't. Consider that a serving of sour cream is 2 tablespoons. That provides just 52 calories— half the amount that's in a single tablespoon of mayonnaise—and less saturated fat than you'd get from drinking a 12-ounce glass of 2 percent reduced-fat milk.

Coconut

You think it's bad...ounce for ounce, coconut contains more saturated fat than butter does. As a result, health experts have warned that it will clog your arteries.

But...even though coconut is packed with saturated fat, it appears to have a beneficial effect on heart-disease risk factors. One reason: More than 50 percent of its saturated-fat content is lauric acid. A recent analysis of 60 studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that even though lauric acid raises LDL (bad) cholesterol, it boosts HDL (good) cholesterol even more. Overall, this means it decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease. The rest of the saturated fat is almost entirely composed of "medium-chain" fatty acids, which have little or no effect on cholesterol levels.

Chocolate Bars

You think they're bad....: They're high in both sugar and fat.

But...Cocoa is rich in flavonoids—the same heart-healthy compounds found in red wine and green tea. Its most potent form is dark chocolate. In a recent study, Greek researchers found that consuming dark chocolate containing 100 milligrams (mg) of flavonoids relaxes your blood vessels, improving bloodflow to your heart. What about the fat? It's mostly stearic and oleic acids.

Information from Men’s Health

As the warmer weather approaches, many of you are wondering how to lose that winter weight. Losing weight isn't easy but if you know how much activity it takes to lose 1 lb, that information can start you down the path to lose the last 5lbs or even 10lbs. There’s a simple formula: burning more calories + eating fewer calories = weight loss. However, sometimes, it doesn’t seem so simple.

So how is it done? How much can you eat, and how much do you have to exercise? For every pound you want to lose, you need to eliminate, (not cut out altogether, just use up) 3,500 calories through eating less and working out; an even better plan would be a combination of the two. The good news though, is that your body burns energy every day just by running the systems it needs to stay alive, however, how many calories burned varies in each person. So really, cutting a few hundred calories through diet and exercise will be enough to put you in your summer clothes, bathing suit or smaller size.

If you think you are doing this, and you are not losing weight, you may be underestimating the number of calories you eat in a day. Start tracking your meals and calculate your calories burned working out using a pedometer or other fitness calorie tracking tool.

So what does this all mean? The recommendation is to cut your daily caloric intake to 1,500 calories per day--no less, since eating too little can throw off your metabolism and cause other problems. In order to lose sizes faster, increase your activity. You will burn more energy, in turn burning more calories. And, remember your weight training, muscle burns more calories than fat when at rest. Answer is Fitness is running a Fitcamp to help you lose your winter pounds. Call us for details.