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There are lots of forms of exercise, but the simplest and easiest form of exercise is the oldest and most effective: walking.

 Almost everyone over the age of 1 can walk.  Very little special equipment is required.  And when it comes to losing weight, walking is a great way to burn calories.  Here’s a chart that shows how many calories you burn while walking one mile, depending on your speed and weight:
 

As the chart shows, a 200 pound person walking at a modest speed, say 3 miles per hour, will burn 120 calories for every mile walked.  Since we know a pound of fat is the equivalent of 3,500 calories, this person would need to walk over 29 miles to burn a pound of fat.  (Yes, I realize that analysis is imprecise, but it does give you a general idea of how hard it is to exercise the weight away).

 Weight loss requires a change in diet; exercise alone will not allow you to accomplish all of your weight loss goals.

 But it is a good start, and remember: while you are walking, you probably are not eating, so that alone helps you lose weight!
 

There are a number of great calculators available on the internet to calculate how many calories you burn by exercising.  I like this one from Nutrition Data.   For a quick summary of calories burned, here is a chart showing calories burned, based on your body weight, for some common activities (these results are approximations of calories burned during exercise, and will differ based on age, gender, and intensity of exercise):

Tomorrow: my comments on calories burned while walking.

As mentioned in my previous post about the Basal Metabolic Rate, here is the formula to calculate BMR:

To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume.  The number of calories you need can be determined by calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expended while at rest, meaning you are doing virtually nothing (no exercise, no eating, etc.). BMR decreases with age and with the loss of lean body mass. Exercising and increased muscle mass can increase the BMR.

To accurately calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate clinical studies are required.  However, a reasonably accurate estimate of your BMR can be calculated using a formula.  I will post the complete formula in a separate post (in case you want to try it for yourself), but there are many places you can go to have the math done for you.  My favorite is this  Basal Metabolic Rate calculator.  Using this BMR calculator a 40 year old, 150 pound 5 foot tall male has a BMR of 1,480 calories per day (with moderate activity).  A similar female has a BMR of 1,368 per day.

To lose weight, the female would need to consumer less than 1,368 calories per day, or increase her activity level, or both.

Tomorrow my thoughts on how many calories are burned during exercise.

As described in My Weight Loss Plan, the only way to lose weight is to reduce calories.  How many calories do I need to consume to lose weight?   A better question is “how many calories do I need to survive?”  The answer to the first question is obviously a lower number than the answer to the second question.

For example, my body will consume 1,500 calories per day, just by being alive, if I restrict my caloric intake to 1,300 calories per day, I will lose weight.

Tomorrow I will discuss a cool way to do the math: the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

Why did I create a weight loss blog about how to lose weight? Simple: I need to lose weight. Here’s my story:

I’m 35 years old. When I was in high school I was very thin. But once I started working in an office for a living, I started eating more, exercised less, and started to gain weight. After university I gained about 10 pounds per year for six years straight, going from 140 pounds to 200 pounds. Around the age of 30 I started exercising, so my weight stabilized, but I was never able to start losing weight.

I’m the kind of person who needs a goal, a target, to achieve anything, and that’s why I started this weight loss blog. My plan is this: if I have to write about how I am doing in this blog, I am more likely to succeed than if I know no-one is watching. So welcome, and stay tuned to see if I succeed or fail with My Weight Loss Plan.