All it takes is losing one measly pound each week. You don’t need risky, costly, invasive surgery, dangerous pills, grueling workouts or exotic diet plans. A pound a week is 3,500 calories – spread that over 7 days and you have a manageable 500 calorie goal per day. Adopt a divide and conquer strategy between physical activity and diet and that is only 250 calories each per day.

Here are some simple and straightforward ways to tackle this challenge.

• Step 1: Record your normal weekly exercise/physical activity. Look at everything from walking the dog to sports and workout activities. This is your starting point. You will need to add activity to help burn off the 500 calorie per day goal. To compute the calories burned in various activities look up a MET chart on line. Multiply the number for your activity times 3.5 times your body weight in kg. Then divide that result by 200 and that equals your kcal/min. MET example – golf with a cart is 5.1 and jumping rope 60 – 80 skips per minute is a 9.
• Step 2: Record your normal weekly food intake. This may be an eye-opener when you see how many calories you eat in a day. Record everything honestly, since you are only cheating yourself by not recording everything. Calculate the total number of calories that you eat in an average day.
• Step 3: Divide the 3500 calories per week between your activity list and your food list. You choose what you think will work best for you. How much to put on the food side and how much to place on the activity side. Review your status every evening. If you failed to accomplish your activity goal that day the skip or manage the after dinner snack.

Here are 6 simple ways to cut 250 calories:

1. Drink plain coffee instead of a sweetened coffee drink. Flavored coffee drinks are delicious but filled with way too much sugar. Drop 250 calories (some swaps worth as many as 435+) when you stick with plain coffee or tea instead of sugar-filled coffee drinks.
2. Eat before you go out to holiday events or anywhere the meal is provided. There are many bad choices when eating out especially at the buffet line. This one is tough for the penny pincher (I know).
3. Jog for 30 minutes. Want in on a little secret? The hardest part about a simple 30 minute jog is the act of getting your shoes on and walking out the door. It’s true.
4. Exchange 20 oz of regular soda for water. You know that soda is filled with tons of sugar, so why are you still drinking it? Every time you crave an ice cold cola picture swallowing spoonfuls of white sugar. That’s probably the easiest way to weight gain. Stick with water and kiss those extra calories goodbye.
5. Swim laps for 30 minutes. If your response to my jogging suggestion was ‘I have bad joints’, then you are in luck. Swimming is one of the best aerobic activities you can do, and it is impact-free. When you swim you recruit your entire body, a process which requires lots of energy—AKA calories.
6. Eat an apple instead of a cookie. Do you always go for something sweet after dinner or your snack time? While your first instinct may be to reach for a cookie or a bowl of ice cream, why not consider what nature has to offer? Fruit is sweet, natural and lower in calories than traditional desserts. Consider the savings by going with a 50 calorie apple. For example, one of my favorites, Archway Iced Oatmeal cookies at 435 per serving. That’s worth some pretty significant time on the treadmill.

I have the whole calorie-burning equation down to a science, and I’d love nothing more than to help you achieve your fitness goal. My workouts have been known to burn up to 500 calories in a session, so keep that option in mind if you would like someone to help hold you accountable to getting your activity on!

My vote is they sure are. The continuous rise in obesity rates and the corresponding dollars thrown at the related medical problems are steering our economy to bankruptcy. The cost of treating obesity and its complication in the United States is approximately 100 billion dollars per year [1].

The traditional methods of diet and physical activity are not getting it done. It can’t be education. Millions of “couch potato’s“ still watch prime time TV right… like “The Biggest Loser.”

Weight Loss Medicines

Not a lot of optimism on the drug front. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did recently recommend approval of the weight loss drug Contrave. The vote was 13 to 7 for approval. Plus an 11 to 8 vote with one abstention to conduct additional studies on heart risks. The same risk of complications theme was encountered by the two other weight loss drugs (Lorcaserin and Qnexa), which the FDA rejected earlier this year.

Lasers To Melt Fat

Introduced in early 2010, the cold laser Zerona treatment uses non-invasive beams of light to reportedly melt fat. While conventional hot lasers are proven therapies for eye surgery (Lasik) and cancer treatment, no studies are out yet to validate laser fat loss.

1.  Ludwig, DS, Pollack, HA. Obesity and the economy: from crisis to opportunity. Jama 2009; 301:533