I just read an article in this month’s Time Magazine entitled “The Myth About Exercise” and sighed…  Is it so difficult to understand this simple concept?  In order to lose weight one simply needs to take in fewer calories than they burn.

CHANGE IN WEIGHT = ENERGY IN - ENERGY OUT

The inverse is true as well:

To gain weight, take in more calories (i.e. eat more) than the amount of calories you expend (i.e. exercise or move your body)

Maybe it’s because we just can’t drum up controversy using this simple concept or maybe we just want to hold onto a victimized societal image.

If your goal is to lose weight just simply keep this piece of information in mind: one pound of fat is approximately equivalent to 3,500 calories.  This means that if someone wants to lose one pound per week, take in roughly 500 fewer calories per day than what is spent.

There are a couple of different responses to this piece of advice.  First people can take the simple, common sense route and simply cut their portion sizes down by a certain percentage in stair-stepping fashion while maintaining or increasing their activity level per day.  Continuing down the common sense route, cutting portion size down does NOT mean one can eat less but eat poorly i.e. don’t replace a bowlful of broccoli with half a bowl of brownie & ice cream.

The second response (which gives me the chance to give you even more information & be more interesting) is to ask yourself: “OK what constitutes 500 fewer calories per day?”  So glad you asked!

This is the first of a 6-week blog series on the evaluation of three different FREE online diet & exercise journals currently available.  These will be:

The three areas of criteria are:

1) Ease of use

Ability to create login and navigate to areas of importance

2) Resources & relevant information

Site provides plenty of background information one needs to make an informed decision about their dietary and exercise plans, gives one other resources such as other “Teams” in the local area interested in weight loss

3) Results

I’ll plan to shoot for a loss of six pounds over the course of 6 weeks, let’s see if I make it

So far

Each site has been very easy to use with regards to creating a login.  You do have to enter in your name, birthdate and location however, SparkPeople actually showed it used this information from the beginning by recommending other SparkTeams by interest and location that could help keep me on the path towards achieving my goals.

Check back next week to see how far I’ve progressed and how helpful I’ve found these tools.