I would first like to say to you lads and ladies that saying "I want to lose 5 pounds" or "lose weight" is VERY Misleading. What you should be saying is "I want to lose FAT." This is because your "Weight" does not JUST consist of Fat! Actually.. most of your weight comes from Bone Mass, Body parts inside yourself (Like your heart, liver, intestine etc.. ), Muscle etc.. I highly doubt anyone wants to lose 5 pounds off their heart or intestine! OUCH!

You came to this thread, so most likely YOU are interested in reducing your body fat. Now limiting your calories will help you lose body fat BUT you should also be doing regular activity! By this I do not mean getting up to change the channel on the TV. I mean walking, biking, swimming, running etc.. WHATEVER! Just be active for at least 30minutes a day.

Now back on schedule;

This is how you calculate how many calories you need to limit and intake for your diet to be successful!

First off, you need to figure out what your BMR is (basal metabolic rate);

This is the calculation you need to use first. Women use the one intended for you "The one right under Women "655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)" And Men use the one intended for you "66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)"

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)

Next, you need to apply and incorporate daily activity;

If you are hardly moving or little activity : BMR x 20 percent
If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent
If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40 percent
If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50 percent
If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 60 percent
Just for example I will show you how I would do it;

I am a Male, 235 pounds, Age 25 and 70 inches in height.

66 + (6.3 x 235) + (12.9 x 70) - (6.8 x 25) = 2,279.5

I am extremely active so I would use "If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 60 percent"

So..

2,279.5 x 1.60% = 3,647.2
I would have to consume 3,647.2 calories to MAINTAIN my weight. If I wanted to lose weight I would gradually reduce the calories. If I was a beginner I would take off 1-300 calories so I would be consuming 3,364.7 to 3,547.2 calories a day. Eventually as you get snug into this routine take off 2-300 more calories and consume this amount daily.

A pound consists of 3500 calories, so if you take off 500 calories you will be losing a pound a week! Now don't go crazy with this though! 2.5 pounds should be the MAX weight you are losing a week. Anything more will most likely cause more harm then good.

REMINDER!!

Little things like biking to work, carrying your groceries, drinking less Soda, adding less milk to your cereal etc... it ALL helps. Now it may be small changes.. but it ADDS up to your goal in the long run.


Good Luck! :D

This was super informative!

- I would like this to get stickied, is this a possibility?

How do you know how many calories that everything you eat has?

Wow... so I was close... I am eating anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 a day and my maintenance is 1,561 until I loose FAT!! So I think I will stick to the 1,300 intake as you suggested taking anywhere from 1,300 off.

When I hit my weight goal (either physical or measured by pounds) shouldn't I reassess this number to find out what my maintenance would be after that? See I just fall off the wagon all the time it really sucks because my metabolism is shot after two kids!

Hello,
After calculating what my caloric intake should be in order for me to maintain my weight, it turned out to be 2500 calories. I weigh 170 pounds.
I eliminated 1000 calories so now I eat about 1500 a day, everyday, sometimes less than that.. well I have to confess, I probably eat around 500-800 calories a day, no more!
During the first week I lost 2.5 pounds, and then on the second week I lost another 2.5 pounds.. and then on the third week I lost another 2.5 pounds and the week wasn't even over yet! I lost them during the first two days. What do you think? Water weight? Real fat? By the way I'm not hungry all the time and I'm doing fine for 800 calories a day.

Hi I want to lose weight I am not fat but tall so I want to lose 5 pounds how can I do that??

Wow... very informative... now I started yoga and some best exercise..!