Four Ways to Modify Your Daily Calories

Back to Back Issues Page

Four Ways to Modify Your Daily Calories
December 05, 2005

If Not Now, When?

Fitness-After-50 - Thomas D. Manfredi, Publisher
tom@fitness-after-50.com
http://www.fitness-after-50.com
December 5, 2005; Vol. I, Issue 12
Published the first Monday of every month

THIS ISSUE: Four Ways to Modify Your Daily Calories

You've received this newsletter because you've SUBSCRIBED to it.

Please add "newsletter@fitness-after-50.com" to your whitelist or address book in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues!

To manage your subscription, go to the bottom of this document.

Please pass on this issue to friends and associates -- just keep the entire message intact.

If you received this issue from a friend or associate and you want to get on the list to receive this newsletter regularly, just go to Sign up

Editor's Note

Hi,

Well, the holiday season is definitely upon us. This is probably one of the most challenging times for people to keep their weight in check. It is also a time when many of us let our exercise regime slip. All I can do is encourage you to stick with it. Remember, it’s is much harder to lose those extra pounds once you put them on. And it’s also tougher to get back in shape if you let your exercise slip for too long.

I just watched the docu-drama “Supersize Me” over the weekend. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s about a journalist who decides to try an experiment where he eats nothing but food from McDonalds for 30 days. It’s quite interesting. In the end he gains 25 pounds and his blood levels go completely haywire. Additionally, in the post script they mention that it took him 4 months to lose 20 of the pounds he gained, and an additional 9 months to lose the other 5 pounds. It sure brings home the point of how easy it is to gain the weight, and how extremely difficult it can be to lose it again.

So, have a wonderful holiday season, but be careful. I don’t think you want to be spending half of 2006 paying for poor eating and exercise choices you make over the holiday season.

Best Wishes,

Tom Manfredi
tom@fitness-after-50.com
fitness-after-50.com

Food for Thought

No matter where you go, there you are.

Feature Article - Four Ways to Modify Your Daily Calories

by Thomas D. Manfredi, MS

Most of us realize that in order to lose weight we have to reduce our daily caloric intake and/or increase our daily caloric expenditure. The challenge for the average person is to figure out how to do this as simply and painlessly as possible. If we can do these things simply and painlessly, then we have a better chance of continuing to do them and being successful for the long term. So what are some ideas on how we can meet this challenge while keeping it as simple and painless as possible?

Let’s keep in mind that most sensible weight loss plans recommend losing no more than two pounds per week. In caloric terms that translates to a change of about 1,000 calories per day. That probably sounds like a lot, but let’s look at some simple things that will help.

Here are four ideas that I think meet the bill:

1. No matter what kind of weight loss plan you are on, you need to include exercise as one of the components. Why? Because exercise not only burns calories, it builds muscle. And muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. In other words, you get extra caloric benefit by exercising.

A 175 pound person can burn about 10 calories per minute by walking briskly or jogging slowly. Exercise professionals generally recommend a minimum of 30 minutes on most days of the week of aerobic (walking, etc.) exercise to maintain heart health. Let’s do the math. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise each day will burn about 300 calories. If we throw in 2 days of strength training (which is also recommended), we can be pretty confident that we will average a daily caloric deficit of 300 calories. And that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that the aerobic exercise will increase our general metabolic rate, which will help us burn even more calories.

There are a number of researchers out there now that are talking about using the concept of high density, low calorie foods to help us make major, positive adjustments to our diets. Using these concepts will help you to feel fuller, while eating substantially less calories.

2. Try cutting down on some of the high calorie foods that you eat. Remember that fat has twice as many calories as proteins or carbohydrates. Also, sugary foods and many white flour foods have a lot of calories and very little nutritional value. So try to cut down on high fat items as well as foods with a lot of sugar. Cakes and cookies usually have a lot of both.

3. Eat foods that have a higher moisture content. Try including more salads, juicy fruits, and broth based soups in your daily diet. Because of their high water content, these types of foods will add volume without adding calories. This will help you to feel full faster, and might keep you from eating the high calories foods mentioned above.

4. Make sure you include lots of fiber rich foods in your diet. These foods take up more room in our digestive tract, once again helping us to feel fuller. High fiber foods can also help reduce cholesterol and reduce the chance of getting things like colon cancer.

One of the researchers who have done several studies on items 2, 3, and 4 is Barbara J. Rolls, PhD. Her results indicate that following these principles can help a person to reduce their daily caloric intake by 700 to 800 calories. This, coupled with the exercise suggestions in item 1, will help you meet the 1,000 calorie per day target that will allow you to lose a safe 2 pounds of weight per week.

These are suggestions that anyone can follow simply and painlessly. So, give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised by how easy it can be to lose weight and become healthier.

I am in the process of adding a number of pages of information regarding diets and nutrition to my site. If you are interested, check back periodically on my home page at fitness-after-50.com and click on the “Diets” tab.

Teleclasses

I will be announcing upcoming teleclasses in this section in the future.

If you have a topic that you would be interested in hearing about in a teleclass, send an e-mail to mailto:teleclasses@fitness-after-50.com

Questions and Answers

Q: What is Cholesterol?

A: Cholesterol is a substance we hear about almost everyday. It’s in the news and it’s often one of the items that our doctor talks to us about when we have a physical and/or blood test.

In simple terms, here’s what it is and why it is important. Cholesterol is a form of fat that is produced by our bodies and also taken in from many of the foods we eat. For health discussion purposes, it is generally referred to as HDL’s (high density lipoproteins) and LDL’s (low density lipoproteins). HDL’s are considered to be “good” fats, and you want to see blood test results that show your HDL’s to be above 40 mg/dL. LDL’s are considered to be “bad” fats, and on a blood test you want those to be under 100 mg/dL. An acceptable target for total cholesterol is under 200mg/dL, with numbers around 160 being considered even better.

LDL’s can form plaque on the inside of our arteries, which can lead to various problems including stroke and heart attack. HDL’s appear to help carry LDL’s out of the blood to the liver where they can be disposed of safely.

Triglycerides are another type of fat found in the body. They are often talked about in relation to cholesterol. Generally, people with high levels of triglycerides have high levels of LDL’s too. Triglyceride levels should be under 160 mg/dL.

To get more information on various fitness and health issues, please go to my site – fitness-after-50.com

-------------------
If you have a fitness or nutrition question you would like me to consider answering here in the newsletter, just send your question, along with your first name and city, in an e-mail to mailto:quesandansw@fitness-after-50.com
Obviously, I can't answer every question submitted. I will choose one question each month to answer here.

About Our Services

Online fitness coach Tom Manfredi is the creator of the site "fitness-after-50". This site is designed with the mature adult in mind. There is a lot of information available on the site for anyone looking to start or restart a sensible exercise program. Learn more by going to fitness-after-50.com

Tom Manfredi, 1218 Easy St., Ste 101, Wickenburg, AZ 85390

Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated! Write me at tom@fitness-after-50.com.

"Fitness-After-50" respects your privacy and does not give out or sell our subscribers' names and/or e-mail addresses.

Copyright © 2005 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS. All rights reserved.