Everyone who wants to lose weight has probably tried multiple diets, supplements and/or plans. There are hundreds of weight loss methods available to buy. All of them making wild promises.
Here is the hard truth - there are no magical pills, diets or exercise gadgets that will make weight instantly disappear. It comes down to eating right, staying healthy and burning more calories than you take in.
That is where the saying “calories in - calories out” comes from. You want to make sure you burn more calories (out) than you consume (in).
Clearly, this is a simplistic view and a proper diet consists of taking more than calories into consideration. We will look at that in other chapters, but right now we want to talk about creating a calorie deficit.
In order to track this you need some basic information. First off you need to figure out how many calories you burn per day naturally. This comes down to factors such as age and weight.
Calculating Number of Calories You Burn Daily
For Men: 66 + (12.7 x height in inches) + (6.23 x weight in pounds) – (6.8 x age in years).
For women: 655 + (4.7 x height in inches) + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds) - (4.7 x age in years).
This formula will give you the basic calories you burn daily, just by breathing, hearth pumping and etc... These are how many calories you burn if you didn’t move all day (basal metabolic rate).
Once you have that number, you need to start tracking the calories you burn and the calories you consume. This can be tricky because it is a lot of information to keep track of.
There are websites that can help though:
http://caloriecount.about.com/
This is one of the more popular calorie counters out there since it is free. It will help you track what you eat, and what you expend. You just have to enter the foods and activity you had for the day. It will even allow you to input your basal metabolic rate.
It is ideal if you can keep a daily caloric deficit, but that isn’t always possible. Sometimes we slip and sometimes we indulge. If you can get a weekly caloric deficit that will still have you losing weight.
This isn’t about starving yourself, or exercising until you are dead. It is all about being aware what you put in your body, and what you exert. Weight loss can be a struggle, but if you can manage your calories in and calories out - you can overcome!