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Forgetting diet pills, metabolic science, and complicated eating plans for the moment, many weight-loss experts will tell you this: Once you burn more calories than you ingest, only then will you lose weight.
To keep it simple, let’s figure that the goal in a week is to lose a pound of fat. A pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories (roughly the amount of calories in one of those big Mexican enchilada dinner plates, plus chips and salsa, and a margarita).
In order to burn off those 3,500 calories in seven days, you’d need to deduct 500 calories per day from your life. Does a 500-calorie drop in food seem too significant? (That’s an average lunch.) How about a 200-calorie cut in food intake paired with a workout that slashes another 300? That sounds more doable.
Here are seven real-life scenarios that you can easily adapt each day this week . . . and watch at least a pound of fat melt away.
1. Start the day right
Eating 300 to 400 calories for breakfast is about right (300 for women, 400 for men). Breakfast kick-starts the day, so you don’t want to cut back too much here (be sure to include some protein such as eggs). But here’s how to trim your 500 calories before most people even have their coffee:
Swap out a 16-ounce vanilla latte for plain coffee and two tablespoons of creamer.
Calories saved: 146
Have two slices of wheat toast instead of a whole cinnamon raisin bagel
Calories saved: 190
Take a 30-minute swim
Calories burned (155-lb. person for all examples): 223
Total calorie reduction: 559
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