If you’re wondering how many calories per day to lose weight, that is a great question to be asking yourself as you prepare to go on a diet. To understand how many calories equal weight loss, however, you need to have a starting point to reference from. In other words, you need to figure out how many calories per day you are consuming right now, before you begin your diet.
Counting Calories
There are a few ways you can go about counting your daily, unrestricted calories, but the best is to you can keep a journal of the quantities and weights of foods you eat everyday. Once you’ve done this, you can subscribe to a number of online calorie calculators that can help give you a fairly accurate estimate of how many calories per day you are consuming.
For the best idea of your daily consumption rate, follow your eating habits for seven days and then take the average of those seven days. Once you’ve got an average baseline to work with you can move onto the next step.
Figuring Out How Many Calories Per Day To Lose Weight
Next, take the weight you are aiming for, and run it through a daily calorie needs calculator (there are lots of them online and a simple search will bring you to them). This will help you to figure out how many calories per day you would need to maintain this weight. Be sure to choose a calculator that includes the following information in its calculations: age, sex, height and weight (present or desired), and activity level.
Some of these calculators will also include a “maintain” option or a “lose” or “gain weight” option, which can help you figure out how many calories per day to lose weight.
Beyond Counting How Many Calories Per Day To Lose Weight
If you can’t wait that long to figure it all out, here are some numbers you can consider. A pound of fat has roughly 3,500 calories in it.
From a calorie-intake perspective alone, if you cut out 500 calories per day you would burn off one pound of fat per week.
Adding an exercise routine to this calculation will up the number of pounds per week you can drop. This is especially true if you’re lifting weights, or doing some other weight-training routine that is helping your body replace fat with muscle.
One last thing to keep in mind when going over your weight-loss plan: there are a certain number of calories you absolutely need everyday for basic body function – even if you’re doing no more than laying about the house all day.
Dipping below this required calorie amount would slow your metabolism down as your body is tricked into thinking that it’s starving. Slowing your metabolism will hamper any efforts to lose weight. In fact, you’re more likely to gain weight at this point since your body will be sending out strong calls for food to combat the deprivation.
For a more thorough understanding of your personal calorie needs, consult a doctor, who can also best advise you on a healthy target weight, as well as a comprehensive weight-loss plan.
