Counting calories may be one of the most traditional ways to lose weight, but the reason so many people choose this route is because it works. In fact, most diet fads that work do so because they inadvertently or directly cut calories. If you can consume fewer calories than you burn in your daily activities, you will lose weight. To be successful at losing weight, you must learn your daily caloric need, and then work from that number to create a low calorie nutritional plan that works for you.
Step 1
Calculate your resting metabolic rate, which is the rate your body burns calories when at rest. If you are at a healthy weight, multiply your bodyweight by 10 to find your resting metabolic rate. If you are overweight, choose the weight midway between your healthy weight and current weight, and multiply that by 10. For example, an individual weighing 200 lbs. who should weigh 150 lbs. should use 175, which gives a resting metabolic rate of 1,750.
Step 2
Determine the number of calories you burn for your normal daily activities. For a sedentary lifestyle, add 20 to 30 percent of your resting metabolic rate. Increase this to 50 percent for a moderately active lifestyle, and 60 to 80 percent for a very active lifestyle.
Step 3
Estimate any calories burned during exercise. Many pieces of exercise equipment will count calories burned for you, or you can use online calculators to calculate the number of calories burned during popular types of exercise.
Step 4
Add all three numbers together to find the number of calories you need to consume to maintain your weight.
Step 5
Subtract 250 to 500 calories from that number. This is the number of calories you should consume daily to lose weight. Reducing your daily intake by 500 calories per day will lead to weight loss of approximately 1 lb. per week.
Tips and Warnings
- MedlinePlus indicates that women should not consume fewer than 1,200 calories per day, and men should not consume fewer than 1,500 calories per day, unless under medical supervision. If you need to create a larger calorie deficit without dropping below this level, add exercise to your routine so that you burn more calories than you eat. If you find that you do not lose weight on this plan, you may have chosen the wrong lifestyle category or over-estimated the amount of calories burned through exercise. Recalculate using a less active lifestyle percentage, and change your caloric intake accordingly.
- If you need to lose weight faster than 1 lb. per week, talk to a doctor. Cutting too many calories can cut important nutrients from your diet.
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