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What is a Pound?
One pound = approximately 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose
one pound per week, you need to reduce calories by 500 per day or expend
some extra calories in exercise
and cut out the rest in food intake. Below are suggestions on ways to
cut 500 calories out of your diet.
- Drink water instead of caloric drinks. Apple juice, as an
example, and soda have about the same amount of calories per cup,
upwards of 100 calories. If you drink 2 cans of regular soda, or 3
glasses of apple juice, that's 300 calories right there. Some juices,
such as orange juice contain a lot of nutritive value, but others
such as apple or grape have almost none. Watch out for those sodas
which are "naturally fruit juice sweetened" or 10% juice.
- Muffins: So you say you don't eat much--you only have a muffin
with your coffee. A muffin is about 100 calories per ounce. Weigh
one. It weighs probably between 5-9 ounces, or 500-900 calories.
- Bagels: A bagel is about 4-5 ounces on average, or about
350+ calories. An English muffin or two slice of bread is more like
150 calories. You could save 200-750 calories just in your breakfast.
- Pretzels: Pretzels are better for you than potato chips but
those big ones you love so much can be as much as 100 calories.
- Snacks: You may be eating less fat when you eat no-fat cookies
and cakes, but the calories are usually about the same as the actual
high fat product. Most manufacturers put more sugar in their foods
to compensate for the lack of fat. 4 cookies = 200 calories. One piece
of fruit = approximately 100 calories per apple or banana.
- Nuts vs. popcorn: One cup of nuts = 800 calories. One cup
of air-popped popcorn = approximately 25 calories. One cup movie popcorn
= 60 calories per cup (without the butter topping). Total savings:
approx. 775 calories!!
- Cheese: is about 100 calories per ounce. If you take cheese
off your sandwich, pizza, or hamburger, you're going to lose 100-200
calories per ounce.
Diet Myths & Tips
Myth: Olive oil has less calories than
butter
Tip: Olive oil is less saturated
than butter but it has the same calories measure for measure. It doesn't
matter whether it's olive oil, butter, margarine or lard in terms of
calories.
Myth: Pasta is fattening
Tip: Pasta is not fattening. Carbohydrates
have gotten a bum rap lately, but truthfully, fat still has 9 calories
per gram vs. 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate. Total calories will
result in weight gain, so if you have too much bread, too much pasta
or too many pretzels, then your calories may be more than your maintenance
needs.
Myth: Peanut Oil has more cholesterol
than corn oil
Tip: Cholesterol is found only in animal
products. All vegetable source--whether peanut, corn olive or walnut--has
no cholesterol. It is not only cholesterol in foods, but saturated fat
which can increase total cholesterol in your body. Therefore, the best
way to reduce serum cholestero, is to reduce total fat.
Myth: Say no to buffets and barbecues
Tip: You may find it punishing not to
go to these events,. so one idea is to put only three foods on your
plate at one time, and make sure that at least one of these foods is
a vegetable.
Myth: Cellulite can be lost with the help
of specialized exercise machines.
Tip: Cellulite is a fancy word for uneven
pockets of fat. Spot reducing doesn't work. Exercising mobilizes fat
from stores throughout the body, not from an isolated area. Spot-reducing
tones and firms, but you might be surprised to know that you can burn
more fat from around your middle by walking twenty minutes than doing
100 sit-ups! So do both aerobic exercise to burn fat and toning exercise
to define the muscle.
Myth: A bagel is equal to two slices of
bread
Tip: These days a bagel is much bigger
and is now equal to 4-5 bread slices. An english muffin is equal to
two slices of bread.
Myth: If a little protein is good, more
must be better
Tip: Most Americans eat more than twice
the amount of protein their body needs a protein-rich foods are often
loaded with calorie-laden fat! T-bone steak, for example gets 20% of
its calories from protein and 80% from fat. The bottom line: excess
protein can make you fat, not fit.
Myth: Most restaurants serve four ounces
of meat
Tip: Most deli sandwiches contain 4-5
ounces of meat on a sandwich and most restaurants serve even more. Four
ounces of meat is about the size of a pack of cards.
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Fat Distribution
The health risk of excess weight is related to being over-fat, not just
over-weight. In addition, where your body fat is distributed is an important
predictor of health status.
To tell whether your body fat is located in the upper regions (the riskier
area), the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is measured.
Here's how to take your own WHR:
Use a paper, steel or fiberglass measuring tape. Breathe normally.
Stand naked in front of a mirror.
- Measure your "natural waist"
Measure your waist at the narrowest point. If you can't see it
looking at yourself in the front, turn your back to the mirror and
you will see the narrowest area from the back. This is your "natural
waist."
- Measure the largest circumference of your hips
Measure your hips at the widest point. Again, twisting your head
and looking at your backside may be the best way to see the widest
point.
- Divide your waist measurement (in inches) by your hip measurement.
If you are a woman, and your WHR is greater than 0.80, or a man with
a WHR equal to or greater than 1.0, you have abdominal or upper obesity
which means a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than someone
with lower body obesity.
Losing weight and exercising will help reduce your WHR and your risk
of certain diseases.
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