You can try balancing various food groups, eliminating or restricting certain foods and taking supplements and meal replacement shakes, but the only way to successfully lose weight and keep it off is to burn more calories than you consume, according to MayoClinic.com.
Ratio
One pound equals approximately 3,500 calories. To lose one pound per week, you need to reduce your caloric intake by about 500 calories per day, seven days a week. Lose two pounds a week by reducing caloric intake by 1,000 calories per day, according to Medline Plus.
Sources
It doesn't matter where the calories come from when counting calories for weight loss. You can eat more food however if you reduce fat intake because each fat gram contains about nine calories, while protein and carbohydrate grams contain only four calories each, according to MayoClinic.com.
Options
You can increase caloric intake and still lose weight if you increase your calorie expenditure through exercise and physical activity. For example, if you want to lose one pound a week, you can participate in a daily activity that burns 250 calories, thus reducing the amount of calories you eliminate daily to 250.
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