Each person’s body requires a certain number of calories in order to perform its daily functions, no matter what their lifestyle may be like. Even if you simply spend the day lying in bed watching television, your body is still burning calories in order to breathe, circulate blood, think, digest your food, flip the channels, and much, much more that most people rarely if ever think about. This figure in terms of the number of calories required is known as your basal metabolic rate (or BMR) and is relative to several factors, including a person’s height, weight, and age.

In addition to your BMR, your body also burns additional calories in relation to whatever activities you do throughout the day. All activities burn calories, even low-key activities you don’t normally consider such as walking, driving to work, or doing light housework. Some certainly burn more than others, like working out strenuously or running, but they all burn fuel regardless. Add your calories burned through activity throughout the day to you BMR, and you have your total amount of “calories out” for the day.

“Calories in” come from the foods you consume, of course. As with activities, some foods account for more calories than others. When you consume more calories than you burn a day, you gain weight. When you consume fewer calories than you burn a day, you lose weight. When you consume the same? Your weight stays constant.

Now that you know the basics of how and why you may gain or lose weight, you need to know the basics as to how many calories a pound of fat is actually worth, which is more or less 3500 calories. This figure is the same whether the pound in question is going on or coming off. If you want to burn a pound of fat a week, then you need to create a calorie deficit of roughly 500 calories a day in order to meet the 3500 calorie deficit necessary, and this is best done through a combination of calorie-cutting and increased calorie expenditure through physical activity.

However, as with any diet method, it’s important to remember to make healthy choices. Choose your calories wisely, prioritizing fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. Eliminate junk food from your diet, or at the very least, cut way back on your intake of it. Do this in tandem with an exercise regime that allows for 20-30 minutes of continuous exercise at least 5 days a week. It’s also important to remember to discuss any potential diet or exercise program with your doctor before deciding once and for all that it’s the right one for you.

In fact, the main health benefit of white tea lies in this exceptionally high level of antioxidants. As many health-conscious people are aware, antioxidants are the compounds that are responsible for fighting and breaking down free radicals present in the body. Free radicals are responsible for a great number of health problems in the body, including premature aging and even cancer, so regular consumption of white tea can not only help you look and feel younger for longer, but it can significantly lower your likelihood of developing many kinds of common cancers as well, including leukemia, esophageal cancer, skin cancer, and even breast cancer. Antioxidants have also been known to lower blood pressure, promote healthy circulation, and lower cholesterol levels as well.

White tea can also improve your health in a number of other very important ways. Studies have shown that people who consume white tea as a regular part of their health regimen have much stronger bones with greater density, a reduced risk of developing osteoporosis later in life, and lower level of discomfort due to chronic joint-related disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. White tea has also been shown to regulate blood sugar and help control diabetes, as well as reduce the risk of blood clot related problems such as stroke or heart attack.

Another very notable benefit of white tea lies in its powerful antibacterial and antiviral properties. It has been proven to fight tooth decay and gum disease by killing harmful bacteria that live and multiply in the mouth and throat, but don’t make the mistake of thinking its antiseptic properties stop there. Because white tea is so remarkably high in such powerful antioxidants, it helps treat and prevent a wide variety of diseases ranging from the common cold to influenza. White tea has even been shown to alleviate some of the symptoms caused by the AIDS virus and give the immune system a much-needed boost when it comes to just about anything else the world can throw at it as well.

Click Here to order a free trial of White Tea (you pay just $4.95 s&h)

Measurable You need some way to measure the goals you set. If you set a goal of a %age of bodyfat, you need to be able to measure you bodyfat. This could be as simple or as complicated as you can dream up.

Attainable You don’t want to set a target of 1.5% bodyfat unless your’e a bodybuilder who is just about to go into a competition. It’s a goal that’s extremely difficult to achieve and even if you do, it is impossible to maintain and stay healthy.

Realistic You don’t want to set a goal of 1.5% bodyfat if you’re currently 22%. Or to run a 4 minute mile if the only training you’re had in the last rear in playing xbox. If you aim too high, you will get discouraged easily and will give up.

Timely Set a deadline for yourself. And stick to it!

I’ve read you should write your goals down and put them in a place where you will see (and be reminded of) them every day, but I find that this is only useful if you’re struggling with motivation. You can then use it for that little bit of help to push you a bit harder.

Your starting weight, body type, height and even gender will shape the direction of your goals. A 220lb 6′5″ man is going to have different goals to a 220lb 5′3″ woman. The man in that example may set a goal of increasing his weight or at the very least keep holding it steady while the woman is probably going to want to lose some weight.

The sort of goals that you may want to set for yourself could be: They want their body to be toned. Maybe even a little muscular. If they are male then maybe they want abs. Or perhaps you just want to get rid of the double chin

What most people really mean when they say they want to lose weight is that they actually want to lose fat. You can’t spot reduce fat (and any person or company trying to sell you a product that claims they can is scamming you). Muscle weighs more than fat. Muscle also needs to be fed energy in the form of calories – so they more muscle you have the more enegry you burn. This applies to all activities – from resting to exercise. So you want to preserve muscle at all costs. So when you step on the scale and have lost weight, you need to ensure you haven’t lost any muscle – If you have, you may have achieved your scale goals, but overall you’re effectively going backwards.

The average person can lose at the most 2lbs per week of fat. If you drop more weight than this, you’re either losing excess water or muscle. So you want to design your workouts to target fat loss and preserve (or even increase) muscle mass.

I’ll go into the details of actually achieving that goal in another post, but until then – happy goal setting!

One of the most common thermogenic combinations in the bodybuilding world is known as the ECA stack and is a combination of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin. (ECA is in fact an anagram of these three substances.) When used in tandem, and in the recommended ratios to each other, these three components can produce powerful thermogenic results. Some bodybuilders even combine it with the previously mentioned cold exposure method to produce an even more powerful effect.

However, as with any medication, thermogenic supplements should be used and managed with care and caution. They are not for prolonged use (typically it is not recommended that they be used for longer than 8 weeks) as such use can lead not only to a loss in effectiveness of the product itself, but to the possibility of physical or psychological addiction. Most experts recommend that if after 8 weeks you still don’t see the result you’re after, you should take some time off from use and then continue at a later date.

In addition to dietary supplements, there are also a number of foods out there that can help you to burn or eliminate fat. Foods high in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, are known to help the body process fatty tissue by diluting it, making it more difficult to absorb in the process. You may also have heard that spicy foods like chili peppers can help give your metabolism a boost and aid in digestion as well. Other foods known to help break down fats and help prevent them from depositing include soy, garlic, and fruits that contain pectin (for example apples).

To further aid in fat loss and prevent weight gain, it’s important to note that some types of foods actually cause your body to burn more calories just by digesting them. For instance, fats and carbs are extremely easy for your body to digest, so it doesn’t burn much energy in the process. Protein, on the other hand, requires your body to burn much more energy to process it, helping to keep your metabolism higher. There are even foods in existence called catabolic foods that are actually thought to burn more calories to digest than you actually get from the food itself. The best known of these include celery and grapefruit.