How Many Calories Can I Have and Still Lose Weight

How to Estimate How Many Calories You Can Have and Still Lose
Weight

To figure out how many calories you should have, first start
with where you are. In other words, figure out how many calories
it takes to maintain your present size and then reduce from
there. You can go about this in many ways. Most people simply
choose an arbitrary number like 1200 calories and that’s what
they eat, but in nearly every case that’s not nearly enough
calories to ensure adequate nutrition, not to mention the
deprivation that sets up.

While losing weight and to this day, I eat over 2000 calories a
day on average and I’ve maintained a good weight for my height
for over 17 years. Remember, your body requires calories to
maintain itself.

Basic Calorie Requirements Calculation Based on Activity Level:

Sedentary : 13 X Weight = Avg. cal/day Sedentary is not
exercising at all

Moderately Active: 16 X Weight = Avg. cal/day Moderately Active
is exercising approximately 3-4 times per week

Very Active: 19 X Weight = Avg. cal/day Very Active is 5-7
strenuous exercise sessions per week. If you weigh over 200
pound now, and you’d like to weigh closer to 150, here is a
calculation you could use to get started: Assuming you are going
to be adding enough exercise to quality as Moderately Active,
we’ll use 16 as our modifier:

150 pounds X 16 calories per pound = 2400 calories Less 500
(Using the common 500 calories per day reduction) gives us a
total of 1900 average calories per day

If you started to incorporate a plan that allowed an average of
1900 calories every day, you’d start to lose weight. The mistake
most people make is to reduce calories too much, which
ultimately sacrifices muscle plus sets you up for feeling
deprived. It’s far better in the long run to go more slowly,
keeping as much muscle as possible while burning calories via
exercise. Remember too, even if you don’t eat quite that many
calories on many days, you might eat more on the weekends for
instance, so it ends up being closer to your goal of 1900
average per day. Take the total calories for the week divided by
seven.

Remember, this average calorie number gives you plenty of wiggle
room during the week. You can have some treats along with
everyone else, or add more on weekends. Instead of constantly
saying, “I can’t, I’m on a diet,” now you can say, “Thank you,
that looks delicious,” and enjoy some. It doesn’t ruin your diet
plan because you’ve got a large enough calorie allowance that if
you are more careful some days than others, it will work out to
the average number of calories you want. I tend to eat far less
calories during the week than on weekends and my totals
generally average out to 2000 to 2200 calories per day.

The 500 calorie reduction is a well accepted amount. You can
reduce your calories further, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It
doesn’t benefit anyone to try for faster weight loss, in fact,
if you reduce your calories too much you end up wasting muscle
in the process, which is exactly what you do not want to do. If
you want faster results, it’s better to add more activity,
thereby burning more calories at rest.

You may be thinking I’m nuts, recommending 1900 calories per
day, but I can say for a fact that if you eat too little (1000 -
1200 calories is too few, IMO) then you set yourself up for all
of the following:

Deprivation. You’re going to feel deprived, mentally and
physically. 1000 calories isn’t enough for your basic metabolic
needs, much less to fuel yourself for your activity needs. Add
more food! Just have a bit more than you’re already having, so
for instance, if you are allowed 1/2 cup of vegetables is a
whole cup going to ruin all your progress? I doubt it. Eat a
whole cup, or go ahead and have two oranges. Fruits and
vegetables are very low calorie but provide high nutrition.

Sure, some vegis and fruits are high in sugar, but it’s natural
sugar. I seriously doubt our planet grows any killer foods – it
is more likely the food industry which has processed those foods
to become nothing more than a dried powder, then add back more
sugars, and chemicals so it will resemble the original product,
is more harmful than a simple apple or banana?

If you are diabetic or must watch the sugars, have a small bit
of protein along with the higher glycemic food, such as an ounce
of cheese with your apple. Notice I said an ounce of cheese, not
a slab big enough to feed a small country.

Metabolic Slow-Down Feeding yourself too few calories
sets you up for metabolic slow-down. Studies have shown time and
again that a heavier person can find it difficult to lose
weight, even though eating very low calories, simply because
their body’s metabolism is burning at such a slow rate. As you
probably already know exercise helps to speed up your metabolism
but so does eating. That’s why they say breakfast is so
important, not only to fuel yourself but because it starts the
metabolic furnace burning, and it continues to burn all day. If
you don’t eat anything until noon, you don’t stoke your furnace
to start burning until then either.

Has the ultra low calorie approach worked for you so far? If
not, why not try something more reasonable? Tag along with a
friend who doesn’t have a weight problem and you’ll see how
sometimes they eat more, sometimes less, but on average they eat
enough to fuel their body and maintain their weight.

Adding more food gives you additional eye appeal. If you split
up 1000 calories over the course of an entire day you’re looking
at pretty skimpy portions on your plate each time you eat. I
like to feel like I’m getting enough to eat and I do this by
rounding out my plate with extra vegetables.

If I’m having a frozen entree for instance, I’ll cook up a cup
or more of frozen vegetables to add to my plate. The extra vegis
really fill me up, providing the satisfaction I need, and I
often have a bit extra vegetables to throw away. Is that wasting
food? No, it’s smart. Far better for me mentally to have extra
food to toss away than to be licking the plate because I’m still
hungry. I’m also not likely to start wanting something else to
eat right after dinner if I’m feeling content with the amount
I’ve eaten.

Make an effort to learn to like your food as is. Plain mixed
vegetables with nothing on them are delicious. It took me awhile
to stop putting butter on them, and then even quitting the Molly
McButter (just chemicals and sodium). I eat them plain and yes,
they are great. Nature made our fruits and vegetables naturally
sweet and all those “extras” we are used to using like butter on
vegetables or potatoes certainly make things taste all yummy but
they also make us larger than we need to be. Those “extra”
calories add up.

Start to Slowly Make Ajustments to What You Eat or How Much You
Eat

For instance wean yourself off adding sugar to your cold cereal.
Read the label; all processed cereals contain a ridiculous
amount of added sugar already. There’s no need to add more. My
only exception is brown sugar on oatmeal. I don’t sugar my
cereal at all anymore but it took me awhile to make the change.
Start by adding a bit less, then next week cut back a bit more
until you break the habit entirely. Tiny changes make up for big
results over time.

If you feed yourself well, and focus on increasing your
activity, even if only a little, then you will continue to lose
fat, build muscle and get more shapely, all the while increasing
your metabolism so you can eat more food!

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