Weight Loss Strategy: 500-Calorie Dinners

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One pound of fat is equal to about 3,500 calories. So if you eat 500 calories less each day, you'll lose a pound every week just by adjusting your diet a bit. Add exercise, and you'll lose even more!

According to food and agriculture studies conducted by the United Nations, Americans are consuming far more than our fair share of the world's food. And it shows! The Food and Agriculture Organization determined that the average American eats 3,770 calories per day. Yet most women need around 1,500 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight.

What's Wrong with a Big Appetite?

All those extra calories rapidly convert into unwanted fat, which is why two-thirds of Americans are overweight. We're eating meals that contain too much sugar, fat, and carbohydrates and too little fiber and protein.

Americans also typically eat portions that are two to three times larger than the same meal served in other countries. In a study published in the September 2003 Journal of Psychological Science, University of Pennsylvania psychologist Paul Rozin showed that a typical restaurant meal in Philadelphia weighed 72 percent more than the same dinner plate served in Paris. It's no wonder that only 7 percent of the French are obese, while 25 percent of Americans are. Yikes!

Fortunately the trend is reversible. As noted above, trimming 500 calories a day means a pound a week weight loss.