How to Calculate Nutrition Goals for Weight Loss

Calculating your nutrition goals for weight loss is a numbers game. Simply put, in order to lose weight, you need to use, through normal activity or exercise, more calories than you take in. By determining what you need to maintain weight, you can devise a plan to reach your weight-loss goals by increasing your activity levels, restricting your caloric intake or a combination of the two.

Instructions

Steps to Calculate Weight Loss

• 1

  Determine your maintenance needs. Find out how many calories your body requires to maintain its current weight. Use an online calculator by simply plugging in your current weight, height, age, gender and activity level.

• 2

  In defining calories, 3,500 are equal to one pound of body weight. In order to lose one pound of body weight per week, it is necessary to either consume 500 calories less per day or burn that many through activity.

• 3

  Set a long-range goal and break it up into smaller increments until you know what is required on a day-to-day basis. Lose 48 pounds in a year by reducing the number of calories you consume (or burning them) by 3,500 calories per week.

• 4

  You need to know how many calories you burn. The following calculations are based on a 155-pound person performing activities for one hour. Add approximately 100 calories burned per hour for every 25 pounds of body weight above 155. Subtract 100 for every 25 pounds below it: Low-impact aerobics, 352; high-impact aerobics, 493; bicycling light (less than 10 mph), 281; bicycling fast (20 mph), 1126; calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups) light, 317; calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups) vigorous, 563; cleaning light/moderate, 176; cleaning heavy/vigorous, 317
  GO
  running 5 mph (12-minute mile), 563; running 10 mph (6-minute mile), 1,126.

• 5

  Keep your diet the same (maintenance calories) and add the amount of exercise necessary to burn off your goal calories, or maintain your current level of activity and decrease the required number of calories to reach your goal.