How do I lose one pound of fat?

To lose one pound of fat you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. For example, if you burned 500 more calories per day than you ate, in seven days you would have burned enough extra fat to lose one pound. For the best results, that 500-calorie daily deficit should be split between exercise and food: burn about 250 calories during your workout and eat about 250 calories less than you usually do.

The math is simple, but the human body is anything but! The equation works when you stick to moderate exercise and moderate food decreases. But many people want quick results, so they either restrict calories to starvation levels or exercise at extreme levels, which wreaks havoc on their metabolism. Our bodies are amazing machines -- if food becomes scarce, our bodies slow down and conserve every calorie. Similarly, when one exercises consistently for long bouts, like several times a day, your body will slow way down during the downtimes and will become more efficient during the exercise. Your goal of burning more calories from exercise will be sabotaged by your body's attempts to survive.

The key is to be moderate and patient. Even if you lose a lot of weight fairly fast from a stringent diet and exercise plan, the end result will be for your body's metabolism to slow, which is why so many people gain the weight right back -- plus more.

One way to boost weight loss is to do strength training. As women age, we lose up to seven pounds of muscle per decade. By strength training we can recapture the lost muscle and by doing so, we can actually increase our metabolic rate within two or three months.

The other weight loss strategy that I strongly suggest is journaling. Statistically, people who write down their food intake have higher success rates with weight loss than those who do not. Journaling can help you understand and avoid cravings and triggers for overeating.

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