Steps to Lose Weight

Step 2. EAT LESS

Start With This: – Work out your needs

In order to consume less calories than you need, you need to ascertain how many calories you really need.

Adults can work out their approximate energy needs by using the following formula. This presumes that you are all but entirely inactive:

1. Metabolic Rate = Body weight multiplied by 12 (for males) or 11 (for females)

e.g. 160 lbs. x 12 = 1920

2. Activity = One third body weight multiplied by the number of hours you don’t sleep. For the average person, this would be 16 hours

160 lbs. x 1/3 = 53 x 16 = 848

3. Required Calories (1 + 2) 1920 + 848 = 2768

Therefore, we conclude that a 160-pound man needs approximately 2768 calories per day. Simply adjust the above formula to match your own body weight.

The “Metabolic Rate” above, is the number of calories a man of that weight would burn up just to keep his heart beating, his lungs pumping, etc, in other words, just to stay alive. You would only burn your base metabolic rate worth of calories if you slept 24 hours a day.

“Activity” is roughly the amount of calories a person would expend by passing his or her whole day sitting around. This endeavours to strike an average between the hours you spend sitting around and actually doing things (e.g. working, driving, speaking on the phone) and the amount of time you spend just sitting there and watching TV. If you spend more time watching TV than walking around, you may want to reduce your activity level a couple of hours to get a more precise “Activity” number. Conversely, if you get a lot of exercise, you may wish to add a couple more hours to your “Activity” level.

Any deviation from sitting around can be considered exercise and added to the amount expended when we come to step 3 of our four-step process.

Women can calculate their approximate energy needs using the same formula, except that the “Metabolic Rate” above is determined by multiplying body weight by 11 (e.g., 130 lbs. x 11 = 1430).

Children and teenagers require more calories by body weight. You should talk to your pediatrician or family physician for advice on their needs.

Once you’ve worked out your calorie needs, you then need to . . . .

Cut back

Once you’ve decided how much you need to eat, don’t eat that much. In order to decrease your calorie consumption to a level less than you require, you’ll want to keep track of how much you eat. The best way to do this is to purchase a book that includes a comprehensive list of foods and the number of calories each item contains. A good, exhaustive listing takes several pages, so don’t buy something that only contains a one-page list of “sample calorie values,” since you consume a variety of different things. An excellent e-book which you can download right now, is called “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle”, which you can get by clicking here. If you prefer to not buy a book, you could simply eat nothing but packaged foods that show the number of calories they contain. This is fine if you only eat at home, but if you’re in the habit of eating out, you need the lists to help you estimate the caloric intake from your restaurant meals. Some chain restaurants are really organized and can tell you the caloric content of their menu items.

Now that you hold the secret to measure your caloric intake, you need to limit a daily allowance and adhere to it. You could lose two pounds per week by cutting back your intake by 500 calories worth of food and lifting your expenditure by 500 calories worth of exercise. If you want to lose two pounds, simply select the daily caloric requirement you’ve already calculated and subtract 500 from it. If you want to lose one pound per week, subtract 250 from your requirement. It is very demanding to survive on a diet that is greater than 500 calories under your requirement, and it’s not recommended. Under no circumstances should you reduce your caloric intake to fewer than 1200 calories per day.

Now that you’ve calculated your daily allowance, you now need to keep track of what you eat and follow your diet. Let’s say that your daily requirement is 2500 calories and you’ve lowered that by 500 calories to a 2000-calorie per day diet. This means you can consume three meals of 600 calories each and one snack of 200 calories or a couple of 100 calorie drinks throughout the day. Don’t forget to include drinks. You must include everything, from tic-tacs to “nibbles” to “healthy things that don’t count.” Don’t delude yourself! A calorie is a calorie, whether it came from a cheesecake or a glass of organic cabbage juice. When you reduce your consumption by 500 calories, your body detects it and it lets you know by making you feel hungry. Ignore this. Eat lots of celery, eat high-fiber meals, and drink lots of water.

Go to Step 3 – Exercise