Login or Register

How Many Calories Do I Need to Cut?

Jun 14, 2011 | By Martin Zabell

How many calories you need to cut depends on whether you're overweight and how many pounds you need to lose to have a desirable weight. It's also possible that the scale can be misleading. You can be overweight according to the charts that doctors use, but not be obese because you have a low body fat percentage and a low waist-to-hip ratio. Cutting calories via dieting alone can also be counterproductive because it slows your metabolism.

Significance

Obesity is a major risk factor in numerous major illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and degeneration of your body's joints. You are more susceptible to these diseases and premature death if you're a man and you weigh 20 percent more than the highest desirable weight on the weight-for-height table or you're a woman and you weigh 30 percent more than the highest desirable weight, according to "Essentials for Health and Wellness."

Measurements

Your desirable weight depends on your gender and body frame. Your wrist size determines your body frame. A 5-foot-6-inch woman is medium-framed if her wrist is 6.25 to 6.5 inches. She should weigh 130 to 144 lbs. A 5-foot-6-inch man is medium framed if his wrist is 6.5 to 7.5 inches. He should weigh 139 to 151 lbs. Medium-framed people should weigh 4 to 15 lbs. more than small-framed people and 8 to 14 lbs. less than large-framed people. Each inch should change your weight 3 to 5 lbs.

Strategy

Losing 1 lb. requires losing 3,500 calories. You need to eat about 2,000 calories daily to have enough energy for your daily activities. "Essentials" recommends losing 500 calories daily or 3,500 calories weekly by burning 300 more calories daily via exercise than you are currently and eating 200 fewer calories daily. The textbook reports that 67 percent of people who lose weight by dieting and not exercising regain every pound they lost within one year.

Metabolism

Cutting calories via dieting alone doesn't work because the practice has a "yo-yo effect" on your weight, according to "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease." Ending a diet often causes weight gain because your metabolism, which is your rate of burning calories, has slowed because you lose muscle and fat when you eat, but don't exercise. Your metabolism speeds when you gain muscle and slows when you lose muscle. Consequently, losing weight takes "more than twice as long" during a second diet, wrote Ornish.

Considerations

Cutting calories is beneficial if your body mass index, body fat percentage or waist-to-hip ratio is too high. Men should have a BMI below 25, less than 20 percent fat and a waist-to-hip ratio below 0.95, according to "An Invitation to Health." Women should have a BMI below 25, less than 30 percent fat and a waist-to-hip ratio below 0.8, the textbook reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites underwater weighing and the skinfold caliper test as other ways to measure fat.

References

Article reviewed by Contributing Writer Last updated on: Jun 14, 2011

Must see: Photo Galleries

Member Comments