The Simple Weight-Loss Equation

There is enough conflicting information out there to make us all crazy and frustrated about eating healthy, losing weight, and staying fit.

So when you need to ground yourself, remember this simple equation. If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. If you ingest more calories than you burn, you will gain weight.

 

The trick is to figure out how to burn more calories and to eat less calories. This part can get complicated, but remember the basics:

1. Eat as many high-nutrient and low-calorie foods as possible (primarily vegetables but also other whole foods), and as few high-calorie, low-nutrient foods (junk food and almost everything in the standard Western diet) as possible.
2. Stay active and strive to gain some muscle tone. Being active burns calories, and muscles, even at rest, burn more calories.

Food addictions aside, high-nutrient foods are more satisfying. It may be a revelation to some, but it shouldn't be surprising that if you eat low-nutrient foods, your body keeps telling you to eat more because it needs more nutrients. And all those sugars you get from this high-consumption of calorie-rich low-nutrient food? Your body can't burn it all so it gets stored... as fat. From your lips to your hips (or belly).

 

The simple steady path to weight loss is to forget the fads (such as the juice fast I just finished) and the inevitable weight yo-yo that results from them, and be mindful of your caloric intake and expenditure and adjust until you are on the healthy side of the weight equation.