FamilyDoctor.org indicates that 1 lb. of fat amounts to about 3,500 calories. To shed 1 lb. a week, you need to eat 500 fewer calories a day. This may sound daunting, but if you add the extra calories you take in with sodas and snacks, you can probably cut at least 500 calories every day, if not more. If you eat 1,000 fewer calories a day, you could lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks. Losing 2 lbs. per week is the most that you should lose---any more would be unhealthy.
Step 1
Track your calories for one week using the USDA's National Nutrient Database (see Resources). The Database has calorie information on thousands of different fresh and packaged foods. Try to eat as normally as possible, including snacks, beverages, coffee (including milk or cream), desserts and alcoholic drinks. Every kind of food and beverage you put into your mouth will have a certain number of calories.
Step 2
Calculate how many calories you should take in daily. ShapeFit (see Resources) has a calorie counter that calculates the number of calories each person should consume based on her age, height, weight and activity level.
Step 3
Determine how many calories you should consume to lose weight. It is recommended to eat 500 fewer calories than the recommended daily amount for a healthy person at his average weight and size. No one should ever eat fewer than 1,200 calories a day.
Step 4
Plan what you will eat each day using the Nutrient Database to calculate calories. If you notice something has a lot of calories, see if you can substitute it with a food that has fewer calories. Cream, for instance, has 20 calories in each tablespoon. If you like your coffee light, you may be consuming about 120 calories each day from your coffee. If you drink two cups of coffee a day, that could add up to 1,680 hundred calories a week.
Step 5
Packaged foods have calorie information listed on the label. Be sure to check how many servings are in the package. Canned soup, for instance, may contain about 120 calories per serving. Because there are multiple servings in each can, it's possible to consume upwards of 300 calories. If your calorie goal for the day is 1,200, you've already eaten a quarter of your calorie intake.
Tips and Warnings
- Eliminating juice and soda from your diet could amount to anywhere from 200 to 800 fewer calories each day.
- If you lose more than 2 lbs. a week, you could be losing water weight or muscle mass. It's unhealthy to lose weight this way.
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