Calorie Balance
In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. This puts you into negative calorie balance. The generally accepted wisdom is that if you have a negative calorie balance of 500 calories day, you can lose 1 pound per week.
For example: You can reduce your usual calorie intake by 300 calories, and burn 200 calories/day by exercise.
However, if you are like many folks who are overweight, you may be eating more than the actual number calories required to maintain your weight. You need to first estimate your Daily Calorie Requirement, based on your planned activity level.
Then reduce your calorie intake by about 500 – 1000 calories per day. Another method is outlined in the informative book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. The author, Tom Venuto, recommends a calorie deficit of 15 – 20% to achieve gradual fat loss.
How Low is Too Low?
For most of us, daily calories should not fall below 1200 calories/day. If your calculation of a 20% reduction puts you below 1200 calories, then you can use a number based on 8 calories x current body weight (in pounds). This should be your rock bottom number.
Further reduction may invoke the starvation response and decrease your metabolism. Weight loss then becomes more difficult. A very low calorie diet may make it hard to obtain adequate nutrition (protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients).
About our Daily Calorie Requirement Calculator:
The DietSecretsMD Calculator uses the Mifflin-St. Jeor Formula to calculate Resting Energy Expenditure (REE)1. This is sometimes called the Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your REE is based on your height, weight, and age. Then, this number is multiplied by an activity factor, ranging from 1.2 – 1.9. You will choose an activity level that represents an average for you. Of course, this is only an estimate, but is close enough to be useful.
Note that as you lose weight, your calculated level will need to be adjusted downward. You won’t need quite as many calories to support your thinner body. If you change your level of activity, you will also need to make adjustments to your calculations.
Are All Calories the Same?
Although many experts continue to say that a “calorie is a calorie”, we at DietSecretsMD.com disagree. Recent research has shown that many other factors come in to play. Whether the calorie comes from protein, fat, or carbohydrates makes a difference. High protein diets may be more effective for weight loss. The type of carbohydrate or fat may also affect your ability to burn fat. The timing and frequency of meals, and the hormones circulating in the body influence weight loss. However, calorie balance is still the most important weight loss principle.
Counting Calories
Some diet programs recommend counting and tracking calories, while others have you follow specific meal plans or count other nutrients such as grams of carbohydrate or fat. The bottom line is that in order to lose weight you need to have a strategy. There are a number of weight loss plans that work. The key is to stick with the plan. Many of these plans provide an on-line food journal or nutrition tracker. We think this type of support is invaluable.
Footnotes:
1Mifflin-St Jeor Formula for REE
For Men: REE = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) – 5 x age(y) + 5
For Women: REE = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) – 5 x age(y) – 161