Losing weight can be difficult, but the basic principal behind weight loss is very simple. You must burn more calories than you consume. How many calories you need to maintain your weight varies based on your metabolism and activity level. Once you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight, you can figure out how many calories to cut so you can lose weight over time.
Instructions
Determine your Caloric Needs
1. Determine your basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is the number of calories needed to keep your body alive without any activity. There are several formulas used to determine a BMR, and you can find many online calculators that will help you determine yours. This calculation takes into account your age, weight, height and activity level. If you want to do the calculations yourself, you can use the Harris-Benedict formula. The formulas for men and women are as follows: Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x height in centimeters) - (6.8 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)
2. Find your total daily energy expenditure. Now that you have your BMR, you alter it to take into account the exercise you do in a week. This will give you a better idea of exactly how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. Once you have your BMR, modify it based on these activity factors:
Sedentary = BMR x 1.2 (no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR x 1.375 (light exercise/sports one to three days per week)
Moderately active = BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports three to five days per week)
Very active = BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise/sports six to seven days per week)
Extra active = BMR x 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports and physical job)
3. Modify your caloric intake. You should have an idea of how many calories your body needs to survive at your current activity level. In order to lose weight, you will need to adjust this figure down so that you are burning more than you are consuming. One pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories, so to lose one pound of fat in a week, you must create a deficit of 3,500 calories in your diet. To lose two pounds, you need a deficit of 7,000 calories. You should create this deficit through a combination of exercise and eating less.
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