For years, dieters have been told that losing weight is simply a matter of "calories in, calories out." But your body responds differently based on where your calories come from. Eating 150 calories from a candy bar will affect your body in a very different way than eating 150 calories from a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts. Also, drastically reducing your calories can lead to a metabolic slow-down and cause a weight-loss plateau.
The Importance of Eating Protein
The amount of calories you burn just to stay alive is your basal metabolic rate, or BMR -- between 50 and 80 percent of your calories are used for your BMR. Moving around accounts for 20 percent of your energy, and digesting your food uses between 5 percent and 10 percent. You can use more energy -- burn more calories and boost your metabolism -- by eating more protein. Four out of every 100 fat calories is used for digestion; six out of every 100 carbohydrate calories is used in digestion; but 30 out of every 100 protein calories are burned in digestion. So if you eat 300 protein calories, you only have 210 calories to use, but if you eat 300 fat calories, you'll have to use 288 calories. Calories not used right away are stored as fat.
High Fiber Foods
Fiber is indigestible plant material. When you eat high fiber foods, your body doesn't absorb all the calories in that food. If you've ever tried a low-carb diet, such as the Atkins or South Beach diets, you're familiar with the idea of "net carbs" or "ECC" -- effective carb count. You find a food's net carb value by subtracting the grams of fiber from the total carb count -- because, in the end, fiber doesn't contribute to the caloric load.
Metabolic Shut-Down
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, women need at least 1,200 calories to ensure adequate nutrition and keep their metabolism high. Men need at least 1,800 calories. If you don't give your body enough calories, your body thinks it is starving, and holds on to every ounce of fat, making weight-loss very difficult. The ACSM guidelines suggest that, "small, sensible deficits lead to healthy, long-term weight loss." Lower calorie diets may help you lose weight faster in the beginning, but self-starvation will slow down your long-term weight loss.
Designing Your Healthy 1,800 Calorie Diet
The majority of your calories should come from high-fiber carbohydrates, such as legumes, whole grains, vegetables and fruit. The Mayo Clinic recommends that between 45 and 60 percent of your calories come from carbs. Between 20 and 35 percent of your calories should come from lean protein, such as poultry and seafood -- watch out for high-fat cuts of beef and whole-milk dairy products, which are high in saturated fat. Between 20 and 30 percent of your calories should come from fat. Choose unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, rather than butter. Avoid empty calories from refined sugars and processed snack foods; no matter how many calories you eat, you'll want them to come from nutrient-dense whole foods.
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