1,500-calorie Diet & Exercise Plan

For most people, a 1,500-calorie diet is likely to promote weight loss. Combining it with regular exercise, however, almost ensures you'll shed those excess pounds. The likelihood of results doesn't mean you should cut your calories to this degree. You may be depriving yourself of the calories needed for the body to properly function. Talk to your doctor to best determine if 1,500 calories in enough to maintain your health.

Basal Metabolic Rate

To determine how many calories your body needs each day, start off by calculating your basal metabolic rate. BMR is basically your metabolism, notes MayoClinic.com, and it's influenced by your body composition, body size, age and gender. The formula for determining BMR for women is(weight in pounds x 4.35) + (height in inches x 4.7) - (age x 4.7) + 655. For men, the formula is (weight in pounds x 6.23) + (height in inches x 12.7) - (age x 6.8) + 66

For example, a 40-year-old man weighing 185 lbs. at a height of 5 feet, 10 inches has a basal metabolic rate of around 1,835 calories.

Activity

From there, you need to account for your activity level. The higher the level of physical activity, the greater the numeric value. Someone leading a relatively sedentary life has an activity level equal to 1.2, whereas someone exercising one to three times a week has an activity level equal to 1.375. Three to five days of exercise each week equates to 1.55, six to seven days equals 1.725 and exercising more than once a day has a value of 1.9. To calculate your caloric need, multiply your BMR by your activity level number. If you have a BMR of 1,835 calories, you can eat more than 2,200 calories to maintain your weight without exercise. Exercising two to three days a week increases your caloric need to about 2,525 calories.

Diet

Using the caloric need of 2,200 calories, eating a 1,500-calorie diet generates a daily deficit of 700 calories. Since 1 lb. of fat is equal to 3,500 calories, you're looking at a rate of weight loss of 1 lb. every five days. This is without even including exercise into the mix.

Exercise

Exercise obviously increases your energy expenditure, thereby causing the body to burn additional calories. Let's say you're 185 lbs. and start jogging at a pace of 5 mph for 30 minutes a day. You're burning roughly 355 calories each training session, increasing your caloric deficit to 1,055 calories a day. This translates into a weight loss of about 2 lbs. each week, which is still considered gradual and healthy, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Warning

The National Institutes of Health advises against cutting your caloric intake below 1,500 calories, particularly when it comes to men. For women, this threshold is 1,200 calories. Reducing your caloric intake to this degree brings you very close to what's considered a very low-calorie diet, or VLCD, which you should only follow under the supervision of a medical professional. VLCDs can lead to fatigue, nausea, dizziness and an increased risk of gallstones.