How Many Calories Do I Need To Lose Weight? Tips To Lose Weight

  As we all know, losing weight comes down to calories. Calories in Vs. Calories out is really the most important factor to consider if you are going to make any progress toward your weight loss goals, but how many calories do I need to eat to lose weight?

Technically speaking there is no magic calorie number out there for every single person to follow and have great weight loss results. Some people get great results eating only 1500 calories a day, while others have great results eating 2200 a day.

Calorie Deficit vs. Fat Loss (Photo credit: syvwlch)

Being able to assess your own caloric needs is very beneficial for you, not only is it the fastest way to achieve your results, but also to help preserve muscle and lean tissue. When losing weight you need to understand that weight can be defined as either fat, muscle or water. Your goal should be to lose FAT and try to keep as much muscle as possible, losing too much muscle is going to give off the dreaded skinny-fat look, which none of us want. The key to this is determining how many calories to eat compared to your calorie expenditure.

How to calculate caloric needs

First of all to calculate your daily requirements, you are going to need to do a little math using the Harry Benedict principle formula. Your first step will be to calculate you B.M.R, your basal metabolic rate (B.M.R) is the amount of energy your body needs to function.

B.M.R

The formula to calculate your basal metabolic rate is as follows;
Women:
655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
The formula only applies to adults 

Daily Activity

You then need to take your daily activity into consideration, as this is also going to be a factor in discovering your daily calorie needs.
To calculate your activity the formula is;

• If you are sedentary: B.M.R x 20 percent
• If you are lightly active: B.M.R x 30 percent
• If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): B.M.R x 40 percent
• If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): B.M.R x 50 percent
• If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): B.M.R x 60 percent

By adding the results of these 2 formulas together is going to give you the number of calories you can consume to maintain your weight.

To lose weight you ideally want to be aiming about 100-200 calories less than your daily maintenance. Don't go overboard and drastically reduce your calories under your requirements, as this will result in both muscle and water loss. Your goal should be to lose fat fast, while maintaining muscle.

While being able to calculate your daily requirements is the first step to results, it is not the only factor that goes into healthy weight loss. Many other factors play a important role such as; food, timing, sleep, rest, and many more. To achieve a greater understanding of weight loss I would suggest trying a weight loss guide, or a weight loss program. The truth about abs program is one of these great guides that details all the information needed to successfully lose weight, and provide you with the scientific knowledge to understand your body. Check out my website where I have a detailed review of the program.

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