A lot of people make losing weight a lot harder than it has to be. People are always looking for the next magic diets for quick weight loss when the only diet they need is what people have been doing for years.

Everyone knows the popular saying “burn more calories than you eat” to lose weight. But does anyone really understand what it means? I’ll try to explain it for you. There are 3,500 calories in one pound so if you want to lose one pound per week (which is considered by many experts to be a safe amount) you need to consume 3,500 less calories less then you eat or you can burn it by exercising.

Let’s say you eat 2,000 calories a day. If you reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories a day (or about 167 calories per meal if you eat 3 meals per day), you will have reduced your caloric intake by 3,500 calories or one pound for the week. If one pound per week isn’t enough for you or you don’t want to reduce your caloric intake so much then the other option is to exercise along with your new diet.

There are many different forms of exercising but one of the most efficient methods of burning calories is good old fashion running. On average you can burn 100 calories per mile run. So if you run 3 miles 5 times a week you can burn another 1,500 which is about another half pound per week.

It can be difficult to stay motivated to continue your running program so if you can afford it is best to make your workout program as convenient as possible with an electric treadmill or a GPS watch. With an electric treadmill you can continue on your workout program rain or shine and you can do it while you watch your favorite television programs. For those who can not afford a treadmill a running watch is a good alternative which will help you track the amount of calories burnt and miles traveled.