It is important to remember that proper diet and exercise is largely accepted as the best way to lose weight. It is inadvisable to lower calorie intake by more than 1, calories per day, as losing more than 2 pounds per week can be unhealthy, and can result in the opposite effect in the near future by reducing metabolism.
Losing more than 2 pounds a week will likely involve muscle loss, which in turn lowers BMR, since more muscle mass results in higher BMR. Excessive weight loss can also be due to dehydration, which is unhealthy. Furthermore, particularly when exercising in conjunction with dieting, maintaining a good diet is important, since the body needs to be able to support its metabolic processes and replenish itself.
Depriving the body of the nutrients it requires as part of heavily unhealthy diets can have serious detrimental effects, and weight lost in this manner has been shown in some studies to be unsustainable, since the weight is often regained in the form of fat putting the participant in a worse state than when beginning the diet.
As such, in addition to monitoring calorie intake, it is important to maintain levels of fiber intake as well as other nutritional necessities to balance the needs of the body. Calorie counting with the intent of losing weight, on its simplest levels, can be broken down into a few general steps:.
The above steps are an attempt at the most basic form of calorie counting. Calorie counting is not an exact science, and can be as complex as you want to make it. The above does not consider the proportions of macronutrients consumed.
While there is no exactly known, ideal proportion of macronutrients fats, proteins, carbohydrates , some balance is certainly advisable, and different foods have been found to have different effects on health, feelings of hunger, and number of calories burned. Generally, minimally processed plant and animal foods tend to be more conducive to healthy weight loss and maintenance. There are many approaches to weight loss and there is no set ideal method that works for all people, which is why so many different diets and exercise regimens exist.
While some methods are more effective for each individual person, not all weight loss methods are equivalent, and studies suggest that some approaches are healthier than others. That being said, one of the most commonly effective weight loss methods is counting calories. In its most basic form, calories consumed minus calories expended will result in weight gain if the result is positive, or weight loss if the result is negative.
However, this is far from a comprehensive picture, and many other factors play a role in affecting healthy, sustainable weight loss. For example, there exist conflicting studies addressing whether or not the type of calories or foods consumed, or how they are consumed, affects weight loss.
Studies have shown that foods that require a person to chew more and are more difficult to digest result in the body burning more calories, sometimes referred to as the thermic effect of food. While the increase in burned calories may be marginal, foods that are more difficult to digest such as vegetables generally tend to be healthier and provide more nutrients for fewer calories than many processed foods.
Consistent with the view that in regards to weight loss, only net calories are important and not their source, there exist cases such as the Twinkie diet, where a person that solely counted calories while eating a variety of cake snacks managed to lose 27 pounds over two months. As effective as this can be, it is certainly not suggested. While the participant did not seem to suffer any noticeable health detriments in this particular case, there are other less measurable factors that should be considered such as long-term effects of such a diet on potential for developing cancers, heart disease, and diabetes.
However, ignoring efficiency and health, sustained, significant reduction of caloric intake or increase of physical activity should result in weight loss, and counting calories can be an effective way to achieve this sole result. Aside from being one viable method for facilitating weight loss, calorie counting has other somewhat less quantifiable advantages including helping to increase nutritional awareness.
Many people are completely unaware of, or grossly underestimate their daily caloric intake. Counting calories can help raise awareness of different types of foods, the number of calories they contain, and how these calories have a different effect on a person's feelings of satiety.
Once a person has a better understanding of how many calories are actually in that bag of chips that they can so easily inhale within minutes, how much of their daily caloric intake it consumes, and how little the chips do to satiate their hunger, portion control and avoidance of foods with empty calories tends to become easier.
Having actual caloric measurements can also assist in weight loss, since tangible calorie goals can be set, rather than simply trying to eat less. Also, although this is not necessarily directly related to calorie counting, studies have shown that portion control by simply eating from a smaller plate can help reduce calorie intake, since people tend to fill their plates and eat everything on their plates.
Many people do not realize that they are overeating, since they have become accustomed to restaurant-sized portions being the norm, when said portions can be up to three or more times larger than necessary for a typical meal. Once a link is made between the amount of exercise that some snack equates to, many people find abstaining from that bag of chips to be the preferred option rather than performing an equivalent amount of exercise — which can lead to healthier eating habits.
In the end, however, what's important is picking a strategy that works for you. Calorie counting is only one method used to achieve weight loss amongst many, and even within this method, there are many possible approaches a person can take.
Finding an approach that fits within your lifestyle that you think you would be able to adhere to is likely going to provide the most sustainable option and desirable result.
Zigzag calorie cycling is a weight loss approach that aims to counteract the human body's natural adaptive tendencies.
Counting and restricting calories, as described above, is a viable method to lose weight, but over a period of time, it is possible for the body to adapt to the lower number of calories consumed.
In cases where this happens, a plateau in weight loss that can be difficult to surmount can result. This content does not have an Arabic version. See more conditions. Javascript is required in order to use this web app. Calorie Calculator. Switch to Metric Units Age years Height ft.
Weight lbs. Select the statement that best describes your usual activity level. For example, to calculate how many calories a year-old, 6-foot-tall, and pound man who is moderately active burns, the formula would look like:.
This figure shows that a man of this age, height, weight, and activity level can consume 2, calories and maintain his current weight. He could increase or decrease weight by consuming more or less than this amount over the course of several days. For those who do not wish to make the calculations themselves, there are a range of calorie calculators available online.
Most use a similar formula to work out calories burned. A doctor or nutritionist should also be able to help people work out how many calories they burn each day. Many factors affect how many calories a person burns each day. Calorie counts for exercise and activity will vary from person to person. Age, sex, body type, and size influence how many calories an individual will burn doing a physical activity.
In general, more intense or strenuous activity will burn more calories than lighter effort exercise. The following calorie counts are based on a pound person doing the following exercise or activity for 30 minutes:.
Anyone that wants to figure out how many calories they burn can input their statistics into a calorie calculator and find personalized results.
Losing weight can be very tough to do. Water loss during sleep can lead to people weighing less in the morning, while their bodies have also burned calories overnight. Learn more. Weight loss apps can help people reach their fitness and health goals. Learn more about which weight loss apps are available to download. A recent review investigates the potential health benefits of time-restricted eating. The review examines both animal and human studies.
This article explores the Galveston Diet, how it works, what to eat and avoid, the research behind it, and its benefits and drawbacks. Calculating how many calories are burned in a day. Medically reviewed by Daniel Bubnis, M.
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