We all know by now that calories count in order to lose weight but, it still surprises me how many people don’t know the estimated number of calories they require each day. It does help to know your calorie requirements because planning your weight loss becomes much easier. How can anyone lower daily caloric intake to less than their body requires if calorie requirement is not calculated first?

There are some dieters who follow a diet as low as 1200 calories per day knowing that it’ll be much lower than they require and thus believe weight will be lost quickly. The problem with this is the body adapts to any calorie intake within a few weeks so if calories are too low you’ll have no leverage to adjust to when a weight loss plateau occurs, and believe me it will occur. So losing 5 pounds in a week may sound great for some but, it’ll be no good if after 3 weeks you’re STILL only 5 pounds lighter!

It is recommended that you use an established formula to estimate calorie requirements . The figure can never be dead accurate because the amount of energy our body burns differs each day however, it will give you a rough guide to work with. You really only need to use a rough guide because it’s too hard to be exact with the number of calories within everything you eat. But don’t worry too much about accuracy because if you’re around 300 calorie below your requirements then if you’re 50-100 calories out then you’ll still be in a negative energy balance, exercising regularly will also make sure your body is set to burn excess fat. Also, if you don't manage to judge it properly on one day and you end up ingesting the calories required just for weight maintenance then the exercise will cover your back for that day.

When I start any weight loss program I gradually lower my calorie intake each week. I reduce my calorie consumption to slightly less (about 250) than what the body needs. I give it a week, and if progress slows, I will lower it by a further 250.

Rather than actually changing the types of food I eat I tend to reduce portion size of all my normal meals. I cut portion size or substitute certain high-energy foods for lower fat options one at a time each week until the weight starts to come down. If I’m losing fat weight (by using fat monitors NOT weighing scales) I keep the calorie intake at that level. Only when weight loss has stopped for a week or more will I continue to reduce calories by a further 250. The idea is I try to lose body fat without cutting the quantity of food too much.

I never go below 1500 calories per day, at this low intake there’s a greater chance I may miss out on essential nutrients, some of which may help boost energy levels. I always try not to reduce calories through diet alone, instead I try to go “half and half” cut 250 calories from daily diet and burn another 250 calories with a selected activity each day. In doing it this way there’s much better chance that fat weight loss will be continuous for months. Trying to lose weight through diet alone only encourages the body to adapt to the lower calorie intake more quickly.