How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day to Lose Weight?

How Many Calories Should I Eat A Day To Lose Weight?

I think it is clear to most people, that to lose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit. I am a bit on the fence with this one, because I feel variables like quality of calories matter and also things like hormonal issues. So lets put all our eggs (good food source btw) in the basket and assume the calorie theory. We first want to know how many calories we need to maintain our weight. This is only an estimate btw, so take it with a pinch of salt (no puns intended).

Current Weight-goal weight= number of lbs/kg to lose.

There are 3500 calories in a lb of fat. So take the number of lbs you need to lose and times that by 3500. This is the amount of calories you need to burn over time according to the calorie theory.

For example, say you have 15 lbs to lose. Do 15*3500=52,500 calories. Depending on how much fat you lose per week, 1-2 lbs is recommended, so to do this, you have to slash daily calories by 500/1000 calories.

So, to conclude:

Take the number you got from the calculator and simply subtract 500 if you are aiming to lose a lb a week or subtract 1000 if aiming to lose 2 lbs per week. This is the amount of calories you should eat a day to lose weight.

The Best Resource on Counting Calories

I discussed the basics of how many calories should I eat a day to lose weight. I got my knowledge of calorie counting and its effectiveness from a book called the “Anything Goes Diet”. I encourage you to check out some of the secrets he lays out in his FREE video presentation about his weight loss experience and his book the Anything Goes Diet.

I talked about the basics of counting calories and gave away 2 powerful tips that can help you succeed. I learned all of this from a book called the “Anything Goes Diet“. It’s not my book so I can’t give too much away, but if you’re interested, there are 7 more powerful tips that will help you succeed and also make the process more effortless. Check out the Anything Goes Diet Website, John Barban (the author) gives a cool video presentation about his weight loss experience and his book.

More Than One Way To Skin A Cat

The approach I mentioned above, was the daily calorie counting method. I happen to not like this approach so much, so instead think of my calories in terms of the week.

It uses a method of intermittent fasting which I first learnt from the diet book Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon. Short term fasting actually mimics the effects of intense exercise. When exercising, once you have burned food energy if you eat before you train, your body will then burn calories first from glycogen and then stored fat. I happen to do fasted training so tap into my glycogen and fat stores instantly.

Anyway, when you exercise intensely, your body produces HGH which burns fat and promotes muscle growth. Intermittent fasting allows you to get into this state without the intense exercise. By fasting for 1-2 days a week, you can decrease your weekly calorie intake by 10-20%. The key to making intermittent fasting work is to perform resistance training at least 2 times per week to let your muscles know not to shrink. This will stop any muscle loss in case you were worried about that.

Having a good understanding of both daily calorie counting and weekly calorie counting will give you a lot more lee way in your efforts to burn fat. Check out my post on intermittent fasting for more information about it.