Calories play a crucial role in any diet, for to lose weight we must burn more calories than we take in when we eat, to lose just one pound in weight you must burn off 3,500 calories more than you take in. Therefore it is simply a matter of cutting down on the calories consumed and exercising a little more each day.

How the body burns calories

Simple basic functions such as sleeping, breathing, digesting food and even just sitting all use energy but these activities alone are not enough to lose weight of course, but any physical activity added to our normal daily routine helps to burn off calories.

As a rough guide the heavier a person is the more calories they burn off, while a person weighing much less would burn fewer calories per hour.

Different activities will burn different amounts of calories during an hour, for example a person weighing about 150 pounds could burn off the following amount of calories based on an hour’s activity:

• Riding a bicycle at roughly 6 mph burns 240 calories, the faster you pedal the more calories you would burn.

• Jogging at a fast pace you would burn 920 calories

• Skipping would help you burn 750 calories.

• Running on the spot would burn 650 calories.

• Swimming 25 yards per minute burns 275 calories.

• Playing a game of tennis helps you burn 400 calories.

• Walking at a steady pace burns 240 calories.

Of course many of us wouldn’t be able to continue some of the activities above for a full hour but even ten or fifteen minutes of any of the above activities will make a start to a healthier and slimmer you.

The activities can also be spread over the course of a day doing perhaps 15 minutes 4 times a day of say walking on the spot will add up to the same as doing a full hour you’re still burning up calories.

Setting goals that will work

When embarking on any exercise plan it is always wise to consult your Doctor beforehand especially if you suffer from any serious medical condition such as diabetes.

It is sensible also to start off slowly and don’t try to overdo things at first, set yourself reasonable goals that will be achievable, many people set unrealistic goals and have high expectations then are disappointed when they find they can’t keep up with the exercise plan or diet.

If you have had very little exercise then don’t expect to jog or run 10 miles a day everyday, instead set yourself the goal of walking steadily for 15 minutes or so then slowly increase it by 5 or 10 minutes everyday.

The same with counting your calories don’t be too harsh and put yourself on an almost starvation diet, eat sensibly and healthily but include your favourite foods, and if you have a sweet tooth then include some in your weekly diet, just don’t overdo it with sweets, biscuits and other foods with a high sugar level.

Once you have dieted and have reached the weight ideal for your height then obviously you want to maintain that weight, the easiest way to do that is by controlling the portions of food that you eat.

It is thought that many of us underestimate greatly portion sizes and the amount of calories they hold. So what actually is the recommended portion size, below are guides to actual serving or portion sizes:

• 1 slice of whole grain bread.

• ½ a cup of rice or pasta.

• ½ a cup of mashed potato.

• 1 small pancake or waffle.

• 2 medium sized biscuits.

• ½ a cup of cooked vegetables.

• 4 leaves of lettuce.

• 1 small baked potato.

• 1 medium grilled pork chop.

• 1 medium apple.

• ½ a grapefruit.

• 1 cup of yogurt or milk.

• 1 small chicken breast.

• 1 ¼ pound hamburger.

Sometimes it is much easier if we can translate information into something that is easier to remember, for example instead of trying to measure or guess grams or ounces compare servings to physical objects, for example a single serving of the following is about:

• Vegetables or fruit the same size as your fist.

• Pasta is about the same size as ice cream that has been scooped.

• Meat, fish or poultry can be measured by the palm of your hand, not including the fingers.

• A cupped handful of crisps or pretzels.

• An apple roughly the size of a tennis ball or baseball.

• A baked potato roughly the same size as a standard computer mouse.

• A pancake the same size as a computer disk or DVD.

• A slice of cheese is the size of your thumb from the base to the tip.

Other helpful hints for helping with the correct portion control include:

In the home

• Don’t go back and have seconds.

• Store away any left overs in their proper portions before wrapping or freezing them.

• Never eat out of a bag or container.

• Don’t keep food on platters; if you do then you are more likely to snack on them.

In restaurants

• Ask for half portions or child size portions.

• Servings given in many restaurants are too big, move some of the food aside.

• If you have to have desserts then only eat half or share.

In the supermarket

• Don’t buy mini snacks, they hold the same amount of calories and most people end up eating more than regular sized snacks.

• Buy foods that are in individual serving sizes.

• If you like ice cream then don’t buy it in tubs instead buy them in individual tubs or packaged as ice cream wafers.

Just about everyone you talk to will say at some time in their lives they have been on a diet, many adults worry to some extent about their weight but now it seems that increasingly children are worried about their weight too.

More so it’s becoming increasingly popular to be thin, teenage girls often fall into the category of worrying sometimes to the point of obsession about the weight. But is it good for children to actually go on a diet, the majority of children do not need to diet and they shouldn’t.

It doesn’t matter what food we eat it all contains calories and calories are energy, when we go on a diet to lose weight we are essentially trying to eat less calories than the body will use. Most children do not need to diet in this way because children unlike adults are still growing and developing and during this time they need a varied diet which includes healthy foods.

Some children may indeed be overweight but dieting in most circumstances is not the answer, children can do more damage to there health by dieting and children can be helped by encouraging them to eat more healthily and exercise more.

Though thin seems to be fashionable at the moment particularly with teenage girls there is no ideal body shape, some people have naturally bigger frames than others and will always look heavier than those with smaller frames.

If your child is particularly worried about their weight then a Doctor’s advice can be sought and they can check your child’s body mass index, this is done to check how much actual body fat your child has.

Occasionally your Doctor may recommend that your child does lose some weight but this is undertaken by your Doctor and children are often asked to visit a dietician who can explain how to safely reduce your child’s intake of calories while still obtaining the necessary nutrients.

Dangerous diets

Any diet that doesn’t include a variety of nutritional foods or one that doesn’t have enough calories can be dangerous for children. Some diets of this type are also the so called “fad diets” because these generally promise quick weight loss but require the person to follow very strict guidelines. These types of diets often ask a particular food group to be cut out completely or stick to eating one particular type of food.

What can children do?

All children can benefit from eating a well balanced diet and taking regular exercise, exercise is usually not a problem for children as most are generally active anyway, riding bikes, playing basketball and being involved in sports teams are all popular forms of exercise for children.

Try to get them to spend a little less time in front of the TV and more time out in the fresh air getting exercise, also encourage them to eat a variety of foods from different food groups including plenty of fruit and vegetables and less fatty snacks. Establishing good eating patterns and giving the body nutrients it needs will help build muscle and strong bones.

Another popular way to manage your diet is online using your home computer and your web browser, usually you will be asked to sign up for an account online, some of them are free to join while others charge a small fee or give a free trial.

What are the benefits?

Usually this type of club will offer a custom plan based on a series of questions and answers, the plan will then guide you as to how many calories you should be having per day, the average weight for a person of your height and build and you will be given the option of tracking your weight, your daily exercise routine and plan the goals you wish to achieve.

A journal is usually kept online for the foods that you eat each day and this tells you how many calories you consumed, the amount of protein, fat, carbs and calories the meal contained.

Within the journal there will be a section for entering any activities you have done that day, including the amount of time spent on a particular activity, with a breakdown of how many calories the particular activity burned.

A section will also include information about your weight which enables you to keep a track of the weight lost over any period of time, here you can set an achievable goal for your weight and also specify a time period for that goal.

The journal will quickly show you any progress you have made for each week and you will be able to see which exercise or foods made the biggest impact on you diet.

Most online sites offering this type of service also offer you the option of purchasing downloadable software so you can install the program on your own pc and have the same options as you would online.

Some of the sites also offer a free exercise routine plan specifically tailored to your needs based on a short questionnaire that you will need to fill in.

Many of the online clubs will have a meal planning program built into it the website which enables you to choose from a vast array of different foods and add them to your diet plan, this allows you to know just how many calories you are having in your meal.

Online Dieting Communities

Several websites also have online communities where you can log on and chat with other dieters and swap ideas and meal plans, this gives you the opportunity of support with your diet.

Many have a buddy support feature which gives you the opportunity of finding someone the same age and sex with which you can confide and motivate each other.

There are also message boards where the user can post messages say of new diet ideas they have heard of or particular diets that have worked for them.

Websites such as these are a good idea for people who have failed with past diets because they bring a sense of achievement when results are seen and it is comforting to know that you are not alone should you stumble along the way.

Many of us go on diets time and time again only to give up and very often we even regain the weight we lose and so we begin again after a few weeks. Even the slightest weight loss can make a huge difference to the person who is overweight or obese.

The reason many of us fail fad diets is that losing weight is a slow process so in the long term crash diets do not work. Fad diets may work in the short term but once interest is lost we soon regain the weight, this can often discourage us from dieting.

The key to a successful diet is to eat healthily and take regular exercise; you are far more likely to succeed if you plan a diet and include foods you like than trying to stick to a diet you hate.

Once you reach your desired weight then simply adjust the amount you eat to maintain your weight. By this time your body will have become adjusted to eating less and be used to your new eating habits.

Do I need to lose weight?

Being over weight increases the risk of heart disease and developing diabetes, therefore losing weight can improve quality of life for someone who is over weight. The majority of people gain weight over a number of years or months, but being over weight increases the risk of developing illnesses such as diabetes.

It can also increase the risk of heart disease so it is in your best interests to find a diet that is suited to you and your lifestyle and stick to it, for losing weight can drastically improve your quality of life.

How to change your daily diet

If you restrict the amount of foods and types of foods you can eat then the chances are that you won’t stick to the diet for very long as you will be hungry and will crave for the foods you love.

You can still diet and eat the foods you enjoy as long as you are sensible about it; this of course doesn’t mean that if you love chocolate then you’ll lose weight if you still eat the same amount.

A small amount as a treat once or even twice a week is fine as long as you cut down on the amount you would normally eat, but include other foods that you enjoy that are more healthy for you as the main basis for your diet.

Exercise more

Increasing the amount of exercise you do in a day, this could be in many forms so choose one that you particularly enjoy or that is most suited to your lifestyle.

Maybe you enjoy gardening or walking both are forms of exercise, people who exercise regularly are known to stand a much better chance of keeping the weight off once they have lost it than those who don’t exercise on a regular basis.

Being active boosts the amount of calories used per day and also helps with over eating, it improves the heart rate and gives a person the sense of well being.

A glossary of weight loss, dieting and slimming terms you may encounter on this website.

Amino acids: There are 22 amino acids and these are units from which protein is formed.

Antioxidant: A substance that protects molecules from oxidation by getting oxidized itself.

Bingeing: An eating spree.

Calorie: An energy unit in food.

Carotene: An orange-yellow pigment usually found in vegetables which is a from of vitamin A.

Cellulose: An insoluble fibre.

Cholesterol: A fatty substance (lipid) found in animal tissue and fat.

Co-enzyme: A substance, usually made out of a vitamin.

Complex carbohydrate: Polysaccharides comprised of starches and dietary fibres.

Diabetes: Refers to diabetes mellitus.

Diet: Food eaten to maintain or promote healthy living.

Disease: Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems.

Essential amino acids: Nine amino acids that can not be synthesized by mammals and are therefore dietarily essential.

Fat soluble vitamins: Needed for proper assimilation and are more easily stored in the body.

Fatty acids: Lipids that can be directly utilized as a source of energy by most body cells.

High blood pressure: High blood pressure is, by definition, a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg.

Hypercholesterolemic: Excessive quantity of cholesterol in the blood and tissues.

Hyperglycaemia: An elevated concentration of glucose in the blood.

Hypoglycaemia: Low blood sugar levels, often causing confusion, light headedness and irritability.

Lipoproteins: Lipid-protein particles that are carried through the blood stream.

Macrobiotic: A very restrictive diet, containing mainly whole grains, considered to promote health.

Metabolism: Summary of all chemical events in our body’s cells.

Mono-unsaturated fats: Usually found in plant products.

Nutrient density: The amount of nutrients found in a single food.

Obese: Well above ones normal weight. A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight.

Obesity: The state of being well above one’s normal weight.

Overweight: A state between normal weight and obesity.

Polyunsaturated fats: Highly unsaturated fat, usually of plant origin.

Recommended Dietary Allowance: The levels of intake of essential nutrients judged by the Food and Nutrition Board, on the basis of scientific knowledge, to be adequate to meet the nutrient needs of all healthy persons.

Saturated fats: A type of fat found in animal products, can raise cholesterol levels.

Side effects: Problems that occur when treatment goes beyond the desired effect.

Simple carbohydrates: Are monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) and disaccharides (sucrose, maltose and lactose).

Simple sugar: Fructose and glucose which are more easily absorbed and utilized by the body.

Solutes: Trace elements or minerals dissolved in a substance.

Stress: Forces from the outside world impinging on the individual.

Subcutaneous body fat: Fat found under the skin.

Unsaturated fats: Primarily found in vegetable products. Saturated fats which are usually solid are found more often in animal products.

Weight loss: A decrease in body weight resulting from diet.