How to Figure Low Calorie Diet

Taking time before embarking on a diet to ensure that all variables are properly considered can drastically increase your chances of seeing the diet through to completion. Failing to properly calculate caloric intake levels for low-calorie diets can be counterproductive, leaving you unable to accomplish your weight loss goals without taking drastic and unhealthy steps. Save yourself the time and hassle of failing yet another diet by putting in the effort beforehand to calculate a low-calorie diet.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook or computer

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Instructions

• 1

  Choose a reasonable starting caloric level. While this is largely subjective, and depends on your current size and how many calories you consume through your normal diet, the general rule of thumb is that you want to cut calories to a level which will allow for a loss of roughly 1 pound in a week. As there are 3,500 calories in one pound, this means that you should cut your daily caloric intake by around 300 to 500 calories per day to begin your low-calorie diet. A common starting calorie range for a low calorie diet is roughly 1,500 to 2,000 calories per day.

• 2

  Avoid the mistake of thinking that you can achieve your weight loss goals faster by dropping calories to a much greater extent. While dieting is an emotional issue because you want to achieve your ideal physique today, the reality is that effective dieting is a much slower process. If you start with a caloric level that is too low, your body will eventually slow your metabolism to adapt, halting fat loss and leaving you no room to lower it further to promote additional progress.

• 3

  Meet your caloric ceiling through the consumption of nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. According to CaloriesPerHour.com, counting calories alone is not enough. If you base your diet around nutrient poor "junk" foods like processed and frozen meals, you will be more likely to find yourself unsatisfied, thus more likely to cheat on your diet. If you instead fill yourself up with the foods mentioned above, you will accomplish the duel goal of providing your body with sufficient nutrients and effectuating safe and healthy weight loss on a low calorie diet.