How many calories do you need to lose weight: norm, counting rules and approximate serving size

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Any person, even the most distant from the problems of nutrition, knows that each product contains a certain number of calories. If there are more of them per day than a person spends, then he will gain excess weight due to the emerging fat. Fat deposits give the figure an ugly silhouette, folds appear at the waist, sides, and back. Over time, a full person has a natural question: "How many calories do you need to eat to lose weight?". You will have to learn to understand the calorie content of various dishes and learn the rules for building a he althy diet.

Nutrients in the daily human diet

Each of us daily consumes proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Each of these nutrients is vital for the functioning of the body and all its systems. They carry energy that can be measured, includingin calories: it is spent on thought processes, breathing, blood circulation, muscle contractions and much more. Even when a person sleeps, his body spends the calories consumed during the day with food. It is the universal unit of energy. For overweight people, the question arises: "How many calories a day to lose weight should be consumed with food?".

Obviously, in order to lose weight, you will have to reduce your intake of one of the essential nutrients. In order to answer the question of how many calories you need to consume in order to lose weight, you need to at least roughly imagine the importance of each nutrient for the well-being and vitality of a losing weight person.

1. Carbohydrates are a source of energy for humans. In their absence, the body begins to draw energy from the reserves of fat that are deployed on the body. This is why low-carb diets are so popular. This is quite justified: the rejection of carbohydrates really allows you to quickly lose weight, since foods rich in them often contain a large number of calories. To lose weight, how many carbohydrates can you eat per day? Depending on the total physical activity, this number ranges from one hundred grams (with zero physical and weak mental activity) to three hundred. People whose daily activities are filled with vigorous physical and mental activity can afford to consume large amounts of carbohydrates and not gain weight.
2. Proteins are the building blocks of the body. Pure protein foods are low in caloriesthey can be eaten without fear of gaining weight. Proteins are of plant and animal origin. Losing weight on low-carbohydrate diets means eating mostly only protein foods of animal origin. How many calories should you eat per day to lose weight when it comes to protein-rich foods? Proteins can be eaten without fear for the figure, in any quantity. The main condition is to follow the rules of low-carbohydrate nutrition.
3. Fats are another important nutrient from which the human body can draw energy. If for some reason the intake of both fats and carbohydrates has stopped, then a significant calorie deficit causes the metabolism to draw energy from lipid reserves. And this means that the fat pads on the stomach, sides, arms and legs will begin to literally "melt" before our eyes.

Features of female and male weight loss

Counting calories is a simple and affordable way for everyone to lose weight. Is there a difference in getting rid of excess fat depending on gender? No matter how much I would like to say the opposite, but there really is a difference.

1. Women lose weight slower and worse due to their hormonal levels. Sex hormones and a low amount of free testosterone contribute to weight gain, the formation of cellulite on the thighs. This is a completely natural natural process, therefore the fight against it may not be successful. But if you strictly limit yourself in the use of calories from food, then the body does notthere will be no other way out but to start drawing energy from fat reserves. How many calories does a woman need to lose weight? The average number that nutritionists call is from 1000 kcal (if the lady leads a sedentary lifestyle). Reducing this number will slow down the metabolism. How many calories should a woman consume to lose weight if she leads an active lifestyle? This figure can reach up to 2000 kcal per day, but subject to daily intensive strength or athletics training.
2. Men lose fat more easily, muscle mass grows faster. This is possible due to the high amount of testosterone in the blood. In order to speed up the process of getting rid of excess fat, a man must connect power fitness or athletics. Sports activities may not be carried out on a daily basis, but at least four hours a week should be devoted to training. How many calories to lose weight for a man with a sedentary lifestyle? This number is at least 1500 kcal. If he eats less, then the metabolism will slow down, and he alth problems are possible. How many calories to lose weight for a man with an active lifestyle? This figure ranges from 2800-3400 kcal.

How to calculate your daily calorie intake

How many kilocalories does a person need? The norm is determined based on the following data:

• general metabolism is an expense for the vital functions of the body: breathing, digestion of food, supplying organs with blood, and so on;
• Daily expenditure on physical labor.

How many calories do you need to eat to lose weight? There is a simple way to calculate the optimal daily calorie intake. You need to calculate this number for yourself and remember it. For the calculation, you should use the classic version of the Muffin Jeor formula:

• OM for women=6, 26(height in cm) + 10(weight in kg) - 5(age in years) - 161;
• OM for men=6, 26(height in cm) + 10(weight in kg) - 5(age in years) + 5, where (OM) is the total metabolism, that is, that number calories that a person should consume anyway.

How many calories should I eat to lose weight as quickly as possible? In order not to disrupt a he althy metabolism and lose weight as quickly as your own he alth allows, you should subtract 30% from the OM indicator. The resulting figure will be the number of calories that you need to consume for the fastest possible weight loss.

How many calories do you need to eat to lose weight slowly, over six months or even longer? It should be taken away from OM 10%. Most people won't even notice such a modest dietary adjustment. But if you accurately calculate the amount of food eaten and ensure a deficit of only 10% on a daily basis, you can hope to lose a large amount of excess fat, and it will leave evenly from the whole body.

How to build your diet so as not to overeat

So, it became clear that for safe and guaranteed disposal of excessweight is enough to reduce the number of calories consumed by only 10%, which are necessary to maintain basic life functions. How to implement it?

First you need to get a kitchen scale and weigh each serving. Portion size is what a person should be interested in in the first place. You can eat carbohydrates, and fats, and proteins, but only all the food for the day in the aggregate should be counted. If a person is thinking about how many calories to consume in order to lose weight, but has not even bothered to get a kitchen scale, then most likely all attempts to change their appearance will be in vain.

You should build your diet in accordance with the rules of fractional nutrition. To date, this is the most effective system for people who are engaged in counting calories for weight loss.

An example of a fractional low-calorie diet for a day

Fractional nutrition is the use of food every three hours in small portions. Everything should be calculated in such a way that the total amount of calories consumed per day does not go beyond the norm. Approximate serving sizes that also satisfy the rules of fractional nutrition and fit within the framework of 1200 kcal:

• breakfast: a glass of fat-free kefir and one boiled chicken egg;
• snack - a pack of cottage cheese 0% fat;
• lunch: 100 grams of buckwheat porridge and one piece of boiled chicken fillet (15-g);
• snack - vegetable salad (250 g) dressed with a spoonful of olive oil;
• dinner - a piece of boiledveal (can be baked in the form of a steak in the oven without adding oil - 200 g).

This diet is based on the use of proteins. It allows a person who is losing weight not to experience a painful feeling of hunger. Weight will begin to go away after a few days of such nutrition. The main thing is not to give up and not break into the use of sweets, fast food and other high-calorie foods.

Importance of the water regime when losing weight

Almost all people who are interested in the question of how many calories you can lose weight on, forget that a person also tends to drink. Remember in what quantities and what kind of drinks you are? Sweetened tea and coffee, soda, beer? And is it any wonder that the extra weight doesn't go away?

Drinks can also cause weight gain. For example, a glass of beer or Coca-Cola is equivalent in calories to 60 grams of Airy milk chocolate. And that's almost a whole tile! But rarely does anyone stop at a glass of beer. Usually a person, having started drinking it, consumes at least three glasses, or even more. Losing weight in such conditions is out of the question.

You need to carefully monitor the quality and quantity of drinks you drink. Calories from them should also be counted and built into the overall daily schedule.

Is it possible to completely give up carbohydrates?

This question is of interest to many losing weight. Protein diets allow you to get rid of excess weight as quickly as possible, and at the same time not starve. Meat, eggs, dairy products - all this can be eaten without restriction on a low-carb diet. Truth,you will have to almost completely limit yourself in the use of the following products and dishes from them:

• any bakery products;
• pasta;
• sugar and any dishes, drinks with it;
• vegetables (only raw and green can be used);
• fruits and berries;
• any confectionery.

Despite the fact that a low-carb diet helps to transform the shape of the figure in a short time, doctors are categorically against it. Counting calories is not only possible, but necessary. But you can not completely abandon carbohydrates for a period of more than three days. The abundance of proteins increases the load on the liver and kidneys, as the breakdown products of digested proteins poison the body. In fact, the body experiences intoxication. A person on a low-carb diet almost always feels weak, overwhelmed, tired, and his performance decreases. This is a direct result of a carbohydrate deficiency.

Popular protein diets and total daily calories

Slimming people contrive to come up with unusual recipes from protein products. For example, when you really want sweets, protein meringue cakes are prepared with the addition of a zero-calorie sweetener. As a result, they turn out to be tasty, like real ones, sweet and crumbly, and their calorie content is scanty - about 100 kcal per hundred grams. The whole secret is to use a sweetener based on erythritol or stevia. Compared to ordinary sugar, they will never lead not only to obesity, but in general to the accumulation of even a negligibly smallamount of fat.

Low-fat meats: turkey, chicken, veal are also low in calories, but very satisfying. In order to get rid of hunger for a couple of hours, it is enough to eat a piece of boiled chicken breast. 100 grams of such food contains only 200 kcal, and this is negligible. For example, if the same piece of chicken is fried in oil, the calorie content will increase to 350 kcal. If you add a spoonful of mashed potatoes and a slice of white bread, the energy value will increase to 500 kcal.

Why do girls gain weight after strict starvation diets

How many calories do you need to eat to lose weight? Above were the norms in numbers for men and women. Alas, many women in the pursuit of harmony violate all the rules of common sense and a careful attitude to their own he alth. Girls begin to consume less than 1000 kcal per day. Some choose to go on extreme diets, which are based on calorie counting and involve eating 500-600 calories per day.

After such rash acts, the metabolism suffers. It slows down so much that even from one piece of bread, the numbers on the scales begin to grow. The girl falls into a vicious circle: she is forced to reduce daily calorie content again and again, moving to almost complete hunger. As a result, she never achieves the coveted harmony. The body is so exhausted that sooner or later a food breakdown still occurs. As a result, the weight becomes even greater than it was before the start of the diet. Metabolism killed: long recovery required. Herewhat extreme diets of 500 kcal per day can lead to.

Dietitian's advice: how to be full and still lose weight

How to lose weight guaranteed, without a constant and painful feeling of hunger, how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, nutritionists will tell you:

• pay great attention to the drinking regimen;
• abstain from alcohol completely;
• girls consume at least 1000 kcal per day, men - at least 1800 kcal;
• never completely exclude proteins and fats from the diet - these are vital nutrients;
• refuse to eat simple carbohydrates, complex ones should be consumed only before 4 pm in a limited amount;
• try to be as physically active as possible;
• avoid acts of overeating: they provoke stretching of the muscular walls of the stomach, as a result of which the appetite increases, a person regularly eats more food and gains excess weight.