Low Calorie Dieting - Beginner's Guide

The first thing any dieter wants to know is “How much food can I eat?,” which is the same as asking, “How many calories can I have?” The answer is simple: To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than you’re eating now. Yes, you can burn some of your extra calories off through physical activity, and in fact you can burn off a lot of extra calories if you’re an avid exerciser or plan to become one. But to lose weight, most people also have to cut some, and often, many, calories from their diet.

If you like math, then the formulas you find in this section are for you. Dietitians and other weight experts sometimes use these formulas to help dieters determine a sensible range of calories within which they can safely lose or maintain weight.

You can use these formulas to figure out approximately how many calories you can eat every day to prevent further weight gain or to get to a healthier weight. After you establish your calorie allowance, you can work with the menu plans in Chapter 6, which are also designed to help you work within a range of calories to start losing weight right away. All weight loss formulas are limited, however, and the results they give are very general guidelines, not absolute numbers to live by every day.