Weight Loss with Low Calorie Diets

Low Cal Diets are the Fastest and Most Effective Way to Lose Weight

Nov 12, 2009

With so many different diet programs out there, it seems as though the most effective way to lose weight may be a simple, low calorie diet plan.

Needless to say, there are few people in this world that like dieting. It’s not fun and following a diet is hard, especially for people with busy schedules. Although there are a million and one different reasons why people don’t enjoy dieting, the main reason may very well be the fact that most diets are so restrictive that they are virtually impossible to stick to. Holding out on carbohydrates for a day is doable; for a week or two is impressive; but any longer than that is simply not realistic and, in the bottom line, not healthy.

Low Fat Diets, Low Carb Diets and High Protein Diets

With a low carb diet, people have to stay away from carbs. With a low-fat diet, they can’t have any fatty foods. Of course, the body’s only natural response when deprived of these foods is to crave them, making these diets very hard to follow, especially for longer periods of time.

Counting Calories – How Does It Work?

With a low cal diet, people don’t have to eliminate any one type of food from their diet. A calorie counting diet is based on the principle that the body needs a certain number of calories each day to function.

People get these calories from the food that they eat. When people eat more calories than their body burns in a day, they gain weight. However, the opposite is also true: when people consume fewer calories than their body burns in a day, they lose weight.

This means that they can have that cheeseburger for dinner just as long as they make sure that the calories from their breakfast, lunch and snacks does not exceed their daily calorie needs.

Since one pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories, a person needs to consume 3,500 fewer calories in order to lose one pound. The secret to weight loss then is simple. Reduce calorie intake and lose weight.

Determining Daily Caloric Needs

Online calorie calculators, available almost everywhere, can be used to determine daily caloric needs. These calorie calculators combine a person’s basal metabolic rate—the number of calories their body needs to function—with their physical activity level, to get an approximation of the daily calories burned.

Knowing daily calorie expenditure allows people to see whether their actual daily calorie intake (the amount of calories they consume) exceeds the number of calories they burn. If it does, then they will gain weight.

Calorie Counting Calculators

There are a number of very useful tools available on the web to help people with any of their weight loss questions or concerns. The Health Status website has a compilation of everything from BMI calculators to body fat estimators and ideal weight calculators. Click here to check out the different calculators: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculators.html. Following is a brief description of some different types of calculators:

BMR Calculator: This calculator will help you figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate. Click here to find out your BMR.

Calorie Calculator: The calorie calculator can help you determine how many calories a day your body burns to perform basic tasks such as breathing, blinking, digesting food, and so on.

Food Calorie Counter: The food calorie calculator gives you the calorie content of the most popular foods.

Calories Burned Calculator: The calories burned calculator gives an estimate of the number of calories burned during different activities and exercises.

The copyright of the article Weight Loss with Low Calorie Diets in Diet Trends is owned by Anja Pujic. Permission to republish Weight Loss with Low Calorie Diets in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.