How Many Calories to Eat to Lose Weight
There are two elementary things you have to focus on when you are trying to lose weight: the calories you take in and the calories you burn out. This means that, if you want to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be less than the calories you burn in a day. This simple rule applies no matter whether you are trying to get rid of 10 pounds or 100.
How Many Calories You Need Every Day?
A normal person needs roughly 2,000 calories every day. This is the average taken into consideration by food companies when indicating the caloric value of the products. However, each body is different, and your caloric needs might be smaller or greater than the average value.
The amount of calories your body needs depends on your age, gender, height, weight and how active you are. There are three major factors to be taken into consideration if you want to find out how many calories your body needs daily.
Basal metabolic rate – the BMR is the rate of energy consumption when your body is at rest. From the total amount of calories burnt in a day, this takes up between 60 to 70 per cent. The energy is used by the vital organs to function. There are several methods by which you can estimate your BMR, but the most commonly used is the Harris-Benedict formula.
Physical activity – your body consumes energy every time you are moving. The number of calories burnt depends on your weight and on the effort put into the activity. Any activity, no matter how undemanding, burns calories – remember that next time you feel too lazy to go for a short walk!
Thermic effect of food – this represents the calories your body burns in order to digest food. If your diet is rich in foods that contain fiber, for example, your digestion will take more time.
How Many Calories You Take in Every Day?
After you have estimated the amount of calories your body requires every day, it is time to find out how many calories you are actually taking in daily. In order to do this, you will have to keep a food journal. You might think it is not necessary to write down everything you eat, as you will remember it all at the end of the day.
It is true, you might remember the meals and snacks, but then there is the morning coffee with sugar and cream, or the piece of birthday cake you ate at the office, or the chocolate your child shared with you. All these little things matter when you are trying to lose weight, so just keep count of every calorie.
How Many Calories You Should Take in If You Want to Lose Weight?
In general, a woman who is trying to lose weight will take in 1,200 calories per day, while a man can take in up to 1,800 calories a day. So try to split your meals and snack in such a way as not to go over these values – three meals of 300 calories and snacks amounting to 300 calories, if you are a woman, and three 450-calorie meals and snacks amounting to the same value, if you are a man. Weight yourself periodically, because, as you lose weight, you need fewer calories, and this will subsequently lead to eating less.
Do not worry if you lose weight at a moderate rate, because this means you will not put it back on soon. It is much more likely to put the weight back on if you drastically reduce your calorie intake. Keep all these in mind, and you will stay healthy while losing weight!
