Say I want to lose a lot of weight fast if I start exercising a lot how many calories should I eat a day?

Answer 1

Do calories matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body? You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about it.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip's "Body For Life," stress the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,

"There aren't many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting 'portions.' A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate."

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie - in the literal sense - can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It's one thing to count portions instead of calories – that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it's another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, "calories don't count" or you can "eat all you want and still lose weight" is a diet you should avoid because you are being lied to. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow.

Anything that sounds like work – such as counting calories, eating less or exercising, tends to scare away potential customers! The law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it's very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance. I also believe it's an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis – including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven't the slightest idea how many calories you're eating, it's a lot more likely that you'll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s "starvation mode" and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here's a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating "goal" for the day, including a caloric target.

Rather than writing down every calorie one by one from every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life, create a menu plan you can use as a daily goal and guideline. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal at least one time in your life for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your primary menu as a template.

Using this meal planning method, you really only need to “count calories” once when you create your menus, not every day, ad infinitum. After you've got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same – you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

For more information on calories (including how calculate precisely how many you should eat based on your age, activity and personal goals, and for even more practical, proven fat loss techniques to help you lose body fat safely, healthfully and permanently, check out my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle at

http://www.fightfatphilly.com/tom_venuto_fitness_articles.html

To learn more about building your best body ever, simply go to http://www.ChristianHealthandFitness.com to download YOUR FREE copy of ‘The Christian’s Guide To Maximal Fat Loss’ sample plan. You will also find some more great fitness tips from Matt Shuebrook at http://www.FightFatPhilly.com/articles.html and http://www.MyPhiladelphiaFitnessExpert.com

Answer 2

It is never a good idea to lose weight fast as it can cause all sorts of health problems. Instead see your Doctor for a check up, they will give you a guide as to how much weight you need to lose and in approximately what time. They should also be able to give you an eating plan to follow or refer you to a dietition. Exercise is excellent to help you along and a good cardio workout tailored to your needs by a Fitness instructor who will also be able to work out how many calories are burnt with each exercise will put you on the right track.
Studies conducted on weight loss have shown that to lose 1-2 lbs, 1/2-1 Kg a week is more sustainable and it allows time for the new eating patterns, foods etc., to become 'habit' forming. Fast weight loss will see the initial weight loss come back with an increase as it upsets the metabolism.
Good luck.

Answer 3

you are not guaranteed to lose weight fast by just exercising. This is a good way to lose weight but its not the best way to lose and keep it off.

Diet and fitness work together toward a healthy lifestyle. Changing your diet and your level of fitness is what can change the way you look and feel. The best way to lose weight is about living a healthier life than what you may be living now. You will need a complete lifestyle change and you will need to be committed. The body loses about 2 pounds a week optimally and that’s 2 pounds that stay off. When you drop at a faster rate your body could potentially rebound and either plateau your weight loss or put extra weight on. If you are committed then you should reach your goal.

This bit of advice is something I tell anyone who asks whether you are my client or not.
There are 5 most important things that must go together in any workout program. These are part of changing your complete lifestyle to one that is healthier. They also help you to naturally optimize your metabolism. The faster your metabolism the better your body uses your food for energy, instead of storing it as fat.
I put them in the order of importance.

1. Eat more. Yes eat more. More meals that is. It is best to eat a small meal every 3-4 hours. The meal should be just large enough to where you are not hungry, as opposed to eating you are full. There is a difference, think of it as no bigger than the size of your two fists put together. Eating 1 or 2 meals a day slows your metabolism down. You should have at least 4-6 meals a day. For most a ratio of carbs-proteins-fats should be 50%-25%-25% is good, but each person is unique.

2. Drink more water. Most of us don’t have enough water. This means our bodies are dehydrated. Two things a dehydrated body has trouble doing, one is releasing water. In order to lose fat you must be able to release water, because fat cells in your body are composed of mostly water. A dehydrated body cannot build very well. Muscle tone indicates a constant building state in your body. If your body isn’t building that means it is losing muscle and it’s never good to lose muscle that slows your metabolism and makes you look flabby.

3. Maintain a balanced workout regimen of cardio and resistance (weights). Cardio is good for fat burning and it’s easy to do and to progress yourself. Resistance is a little harder because it’s not as easy to know what to do. If weights aren’t your thing then try Yoga or Pilates. Both are very effective resistance and core training and can help you maintain lean muscle and increase your overall metabolism.

4. Smart supplementation of your diet is your best solution to making sure you get the nutrients your food doesn’t give you. A daily multivitamin will suffice in most cases, and if you don’t like pills they sell it in liquid form. Plus cleanses, as well as detox formulas are awesome for eliminating toxins we take into our bodies without knowing.

5. Sleep is a very important part of any healthy lifestyle regimen. When we sleep our bodies and minds refresh themselves and allow us to function at an optimal level. Sleeping allows muscles to rebuild themselves and when they do that, it speeds your metabolism.

You may ask why I gave you this long list instead of just telling you what exercises to do. The reason is if you think that exercising is all you need then you are mislead. If exercising is all we needed to look and feel great then everybody who works out at the gym would have great bodies and be healthy. If you have been to a gym before you know its not true.

Answer 4

There is only one rule to weight loss: burn more calories than you take in. If you burn 2000 calories a day excercising, you should eat maybe 1900 calories in order to lose weight. Don't eat too little though, this is bad for you.

Answer 5

I've looked this up a thousand times and the best answer I have is this: 1)drink lots of water 2)cut food portions in half 3)excercise more From this I lost 5 pounds in one week.

Answer 6

Measure your current calorie intake, then consume 2/3 of that.

Answer 7

no less than 2000, no more than 5000. And monitor your heart beat and blood pressure when you exercise to make sure your weight loss isnt adversly affecting your health.

Answer 8

for Men - 1500
for women - 1300

for me - all I want

Answer 9

http://inch-aweigh.com/dcn.php

Fill out the information and it will caculate for you what your intake needs to be.

Answer 10

2,000 to 2,500