Summer Slimming Tips

Slipping into that favorite pair of shorts after a long winter can be a high point for Coloradans. The low point comes when the shorts are tighter than you'd hoped. Don't despair. The fresh air and sunshine that comes with spring makes it easy to get out and enjoy exercise and healthy eating. With a little effort to lose that extra 5 or 10 pounds, those favorite shorts will fit better than ever.
Safe and long-term weight loss is the method that works best for leftover winter bulges. At a rate of no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week, that extra 10 pounds will be a distant reminder come midsummer. Experts caution against promises of dramatic weight loss for good reason. Too few calories may tell the body it's going into starvation mode. The weight may come off, but with a subsequent diminished metabolism. To the contrary, summer should be a time to rev up the metabolic engine. Eating light and exercise is the perfect strategy.
In order to lose weight, calories in must be less than calories out. In other words, one must burn more calories than consumed on average over time. One obvious way to tip the scale in favor of weight loss is to eat fewer calories per day. For example, skip the 2 tablespoons of sour cream and two pats of butter on your baked potato, replace that slice of bologna with a slice of lean turkey, and replace 1 cup of whole milk with 1 cup of skim milk. These examples will yield a savings of about 500 calories. Similar changes every day for one week will add up to a savings of 3,500 calories, the number of calories in 1 pound of fat.
For the person who eats roughly 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight, cutting back to 1,500 calories should do the trick. However, for a person who eats 1,500 calories, cutting back an additional 500 per day can signal the body to store calories instead of use them. To keep the metabolic engine revved, it's best not to restrict intake to less than 1,200 calories per day.
In the calories-in versus calories-out equation, there is no getting around the need for exercise. Not only is it a way to increase the number of calories burned from day to day, but exercise itself helps boost metabolism. While a sedentary person may burn a certain number of calories just sitting on the couch, a person who is active tends to burn more calories--even while sitting on a couch. The reason for this is that lean body tissue, otherwise known as muscle, is more metabolically active. It simply burns more energy just being itself. While aerobic activities like walking, hiking, and bicycling are important for cardiovascular conditioning and increasing the calories-out part of the equation, any good fitness and weight loss program should include a strength training component to build lean tissue.
Follow these recommendations for healthy, long-term weight loss this summer.
· Thirty to 45 minutes of aerobic activity five days per week. (Increase to 45 to 60 minutes if walking.)
· Thirty to 60 minutes of weight training, using all the major muscle groups, two days per week. If you are new to weight training, most fitness clubs have personnel trained to help you get started safely and effectively.
· Incorporate a slight calorie reduction of 250 to 500 calories a day. Focus on complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and grains, and cut back on foods high in saturated fat.
· Always consult your physician before starting any exercise program.