If you're overweight, shedding your excess body weight can help you feel better, and it will lower your risk of chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease. And part of any successful weight loss journey is setting a goal for your weekly weight loss, since the goal provides a standard to measure your progress. Losing 1 kilogram a week – is doable for some people, and adjusting your diet and exercise program can help you meet your goal. However, such aggressive weight loss is not appropriate for everyone, but you can still use these guidelines to reach your goal weight at your own pace.
Setting Your Calorie Goals
While shedding pounds isn't easy, the basic principle behind it is simple: Burn more calories than you take in each day. A KILOGRAM of fat corresponds to roughly 7700 calories, so losing a kilogram of weight per week means cutting 7,700 calories from your diet each week – or 1,100 each day. This creates a "calorie deficit" that forces your body to start burning fat for energy. If you're larger, and you're willing to live a very active lifestyle, this may work. There are 2 ways to do that:
1. For example, a 125 kg , 30-year old man who is active for more than an hour a day burns roughly 4,775 calories daily. By cutting his intake to 3,675 calories, he could lose a kilogram a week.
2. Alternatively, he could cut his calorie intake by 550 calories – eating 4,275 calories per day – and burn 550 extra calories through exercise to achieve his calorie goal.
Plug your information into a weight loss calculator to find out how much you need to burn, then use that number as a starting point to figure out how to lose weight.
Reducing Your Calorie Intake with Diet
One technique for shedding pounds is to reduce your calorie intake. To succeed, load up your meals with lean proteins and fibrous vegetables that help you feel full without adding tons of calories to your meal. Both protein and fiber – which is abundant in vegetables – help you feel full, so you'll be satisfied on fewer calories than if you ate starchy, fatty fare.
For example, Top a generous spinach salad with cubed chicken breast, or grill turkey breast with one to two cups of your favorite roasted vegetables for a quick and easy weight loss-friendly meal. Include protein and vegetables at breakfast by making a veggie smoothie, or serving an omelet piled high with onions, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes.
Increasing Your Calorie Burn with Exercise
The other half of the weight loss equation is physical activity, since each "extra" calorie you burn contributes to your calorie deficit. Lose weight healthfully by including a mix of aerobic activity and weight lifting in your workout routine.
Aerobic exercise burns tons of calories. A 80 kg person can torch 888 calories in an hour-long, high-impact step aerobics class.
Weightlifting builds strong, lean muscle that burns more calories all day long, effectively increasing your metabolism to make weight loss easier. Include three weightlifting sessions in your fitness routine each week, and include full body exercises, like squats, push ups, rows and dead-lifts, in each one.
Is Losing 1 Kilogram a Week Right for You?
Part of successful weight loss is setting goals you can achieve, since meeting your goals keeps you motivated to stick to your healthy lifestyle. Shedding 1 kg weekly is a very aggressive weight loss goal, and one that won't be a good fit for everyone. It likely isn't a realistic goal if you're older, have little weight to lose and can't live a very active lifestyle.
For example, A 60-year old woman who weighs 65 and is active for less than an hour a day, for example, burns just 1,925 calories daily. Cutting 1,110 calories would mean eating just over 800 calories a day, which is not safe, healthy or satisfying. If you're on the low end of the calorie-burning spectrum, set more modest goals – like losing a kilogram per month, instead of going for a whole kilogram of loss weekly.