Nutrition Goals To Lose Weight

These days, it seems everyone wants to lose weight. Whether you're aiming to look more attractive, whether you have a specific weight target in mind, or if you're just trying to fit into that little dress for that special occasion, weight loss is something that crosses nearly everyone's mind at some point. With the bewildering array of options available, it can be tricky to come up with a real plan.

Significance

Nutrition and weight loss go hand in hand. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. This old piece of advice has a grain of truth, but modern nutritional advice goes far beyond that. It tells you what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat it for losing weight.

History

The generally accepted model of weight loss, typified by the government's Weight-control Information Network, is that you need to burn more calories through daily activity and exercise than you consume through food. The bigger the difference between what you burn and what you eat, the faster you lose weight. According to the Nutrition.gov site, you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a single pound of weight.

Expert Insight

According to the "Guardian" newspaper, recent studies by the Mayo Clinic and by professors at the University of Louisiana show that exercise has only a small effect on your weight compared with what you eat. This is because in relative terms, it is much easier to control or limit the amount of calories you take in through food than to burn it all off. The amount of exercise you need to do to offset even a small meal is considerable, so while exercise helps, closely regulating your diet is vital.

Theories

While eating fewer calories than you burn is a simple principle for weight loss, it is not the most accurate one. Formulas such as the Katch-McArdle, Mifflin-St Jeor or Harris-Benedict equations show that weight loss is dependent on other factors and that for most people, you will need to restrict your calories significantly. These formulas are based on your basal metabolic rate, which takes into account weight, height, age and sex. Although this is more accurate, it can be harder to calculate without professional input. Generally speaking, they also show that eating roughly 20 percent less than your maintenance level of calories will help you lose weight.

Considerations

Other metabolic tricks can help you lose weight. The human body is built to adapt to its conditions, so in times of starvation, it will attempt to hoard fat and calories, slowing down your metabolism and hindering your weight loss. In practice, if you restrict your calories too much, or stick to the same diet, your body will adjust, and your weight loss will slow down. Take a day off each week to eat what you want, which will help spike your metabolism levels.