There is a very simple mathematical equation that defines weight loss. It is as follows;
calories in > calories out = weight loss.

As you can see, in order to lose weight you must consume fewer calories than you use. It sounds very simple in theory but in order to do so successfully you must understand how many calories you’re using each day and then create a diet that will have you eating less than the amount you’re using.

There are many great calculators on the internet available which you can find by simply searching for, “Calorie Calculator” on Google or any other search engine. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say you’re using 2000 calories a day. In order to lose weight, you need to be consuming less than 2000 calories a day. It’s recommended that you only lower your daily calories by 500 so in this case you would have to create a diet that had a total of 1500 calories a day.

The reason we get this number is because there are 3500 calories in one pound. So if we burn 500 calories a day, we will lose one pound a week. If you wanted to lose more you would need to have more of a caloric deficit, although, I personally would never consume less than 1200 calories a day. You can consult with your doctor as to the lowest amount of calories you can eat.

So from here, we would create a diet that consisted of 1500 calories. These calories would come from protein, carbohydrates and fats. It’s important to note that whilst there are 4 calories in one gram of protein and one gram of carbohydrate, there are 9 calories in one gram of fat. Additionally, you will also want to create a balanced diet. The usual balance is around about 40-40-20 which is 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% fat.

As I said above, the actual amount of calories you need to consume will be different to the numbers outlined in this article. The reason for this is because everyone is a different size and will also exercise differently. Use the calculator that is linked to above and go from there.

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