Counting calories is a simple yet effective way to lose weight. Combined with regular exercise and a balanced diet, reducing your daily caloric intake will help you shed pounds. However, understanding how many calories to cut often gets confusing.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns at rest. These calories provide energy for basic functions that keep your heart beating and allow you to breathe. Use your BMR to establish a base number of calories your body needs in one day. You can use an equation to determine your BMR: for women, BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years ), and for men, BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in years ). For example, a 30 year old man who is 6 feet tall weighing 190 pounds would have a BMR of 1,960.1 calories per day.
Exercise
Any exercise or activity in which you engage requires energy. That energy comes from burning calories. Adding the calories you burn during exercise to your BMR will yield a total daily caloric allowance. For example, a 30 year old man, weighing 190 pounds, who exercises for 30 minutes with a heart rate of 130 burns 360 calories. Add your exercise calories to your BMR to find total daily allowance. If someone burns 360 calories with exercise and has a BMR of 2,000 calories, he would have a daily caloric allowance of 2,360 calories.
Weight Loss
To lose weight, reduce your daily caloric intake below you daily caloric allowance as determined by your BMR and exercise. There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. Therefore, a reduction of 500 calories per day will yield weight loss of 1 lb. per week.
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