Trying to Lose Weight: Should I Cut Out Rice?

by Emily
(Michigan)

Hi! I am a 20 year old and 5'3" and weigh 220 pounds.

Some people think that that doesn't sound bad, but really, it looks bad. I have a bulge of fat and it's really getting to me. I used to be really skinny and because of stress in school and such, I gained 20 pounds over the summer last year.

I am Asian so I eat a lot of rice, but I know that rice has lots of calories. When going on a diet, would it be better not to eat rice?

I am planning to run five miles a day everyday. Not all at once, but 2.5 miles in the morning before or after breakfast and 2.5 miles after dinner. Would I lose weight?

Thanks for the help!

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Emily,

Congrats on taking control of your situation and starting to make some positive changes.

When it comes to losing weight, calories matter.

You have to create a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound of body fat.

You mention that you are going to be running. On average, a person burns ~ 100 calories per mile. SO...if you run 5 miles per day, you'll be expending 500 calories per day by doing so.

Assuming you run every day, you'd therefore lose 1 pound per week (if you don't eat back the calories you burned in running!)

500 calories per day x 7 days per week = 3500 calories (=1 pound)

If you make small caloric cutbacks in your diet at the same time (whether it's cutting out or cutting down on rice or other foods), you'll speed up the process.

Read more about weight loss here and see my favorite weight loss tools.

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