Low-calorie diets are food plans that reduce your total caloric intake for the purpose of losing weight or treating a medical condition. To follow a restricted-calorie diet, you either dramatically reduce your consumption or eat the same amount of food but switch to lower-calorie food alternatives. Most low-calorie diets employ a combination of these two approaches and may add an exercise component to help you burn fat more quickly.
Total Calories
The amount of calories you consume on a low-calorie diet varies dramatically depending upon your height, weight and level of activity. One person's low-calorie diet is another person's weight-maintenance diet. In general, a man of average height can consume around 1800 calories daily and lose weight at a gradual pace of 1 to 2 lbs. per week. A woman of average height can consume around 1500 calories daily for the same results. If you exercise vigorously for at least 30 minutes per day, you can lose up to an additional pound every week.
Food Choices
Not all low-calorie diets are healthy diets. The best low-calorie diets allow you to swap different nutritious foods from all the food groups. About a third of your calories can come from healthy sources of fat such as olive oil, canola oil, olives, avocado, flaxseed oil, nuts, seeds, fish, skinless poultry and nonfat dairy products. Cutting carbohydrates is not a healthy choice, but swapping refined flour products for whole grains adds fiber and nutrients to your diet while keeping your caloric intake low.
Restricting Foods
While you need to eat diverse foods on a low-calorie diet, you should eliminate certain sources of calories that do not offer nutritional value. For example, a sugary dessert like chocolate cake adds about 500 calories to your intake. A snack-size bag of chips has over 400 calories. A tall coffee drink filled with flavored syrup and whipped cream contains more than 500 calories. Cut out fast food, deep-fried food, red meat, processed meat and foods with simple sugars and syrups.
Burning Calories
The final part of the equation in low-calorie diets is exercise. To burn calories at a significant rate, choose more vigorous aerobic exercise. For example, a 155-lb. person who strolls slowly only burns 140 calories per hour. Walk at a moderate pace and the calorie burn increases to 230 calories per hour. If you walk a brisk 17-minute mile, you burn 265 calories per hour. Do the same walk on an uphill grade and burn 420 calories per hour. Carry a 10-lb. backpack on your hike and burn 528 calories per hour.
Member Comments