Figuring Your Own Weight Loss Calories

Did you know that 1 pound of fat equals 3500 calories?    1 lb fat = 3500 calories

Your calories for weight loss. Here at Forever Body Transformation, we want you losing fat.  We don’t wantyou to lose water or muscle.  A healthy weight loss goal is 1 to 2 pounds of fat each week or 1% of your body weight.  So if your weight is in the 300s then your goal is 3 pounds.

Why can some people lose anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds the first week they start a diet?  Those people are mostly losing water.  Let me explain.  Your muscles store energy called glycogen.  When someone goes on a “typical” diet (usually 1200 calories for women and 1600 calories for men), it usually is not enough calories to cover that person’s RMR.  For example, let’s say your RMR was 1800 calories.  That’s what you would need to do nothing all day long.

If you go on a “typical” diet and start eating 1600 calories, your body is going to utilize all that stored glycogen in your muscles and use it for energy.  For every gram of glycogen your muscles hold, they hold 2.2 grams of water.  So if you deplete your glycogen stores, you are also losing a lot of water which will reflect in pounds lost on the scale from 5 to 10 pounds.  Would you  really lose 10 pounds of fat?  NO!  What’s worse is that you would also likely lose some muscle too since you would be severely under-eating.



*** Click Here to visit Forever Body Transformation ***

The Forever Body Transformation program does not want you losing muscle or water…we want you losing FAT!  So, let’s use 1 pound fat loss per week as an example.  Remember, 1 pound of fat equals 3500 calories.  So, in order to lose that one pound of fat, you need to have a 3500 calorie deficit each week.  Divide 3500 by 7 days in the week and that gives you 500.  You need a 500 calorie deficit each day.  If you want to lose 2 pounds each week, then you need 1000 calorie deficit each day.

Let’s say that your RMR with your activity factor is 2500 calories:

    If you want to lose 1 pound of fat per week:  2500 total calories – 500 calories for fat loss = 2000 calories per day.
    If you want to lose 2 pounds of fat per week:  2500 total calories -1000 calories for fat loss = 1500 calories per day.

WARNING!  You should NEVER go below your estimated RMR calorie level; otherwise you will be slowing down your metabolism in your efforts to lose weight.  If your RMR is 1800 calories, then you shouldn’t go below 1800 calories per day which would set you up for a deficit of 700 calories each day (2500 – 1800 = 700).

This will allow you to lose about 1.5 pounds of fat each week.  If you want to lose more than 1.5 pounds per week, then go ahead and increase your activity and exercise level in order to burn more calories, but we do not want you eating less than what you figure your RMR to be.