Weight Loss (Part 2) - Calorie Deficit

In the previous post was a general overview and introduction of Herbalife weight loss program. 

After reading the first post some might be thinking, wow I only got to eat one meal a day, and think that it will be difficult. Well you can actually eat frequent small meal when you feel hungry. Don't starve your self and call it diet as it won't actually help you to loss weight. I will write another post on this later part. Today I will write about calorie deficit and weight loss.

(click to enlarge image)

In average women need about 2000 calorie a day, if however she consume less calorie, it is call deficit calorie and will lead to weight loss. Deficit calorie is when the food of amount energy / calorie you consume is less than the calorie you use. Below is guide to calculate calorie deficit, below is the example:

Height     : 5'1"

Weight    : 110 lbs 

Age          : 33

Gender   : Female

Step 1

Figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) or TDEE (Toral Daily Energy Expenditure). BMR is the number of calories your body burns within 24 hours by just being alive (breathing, sleeping, digesting etc) This BMR calculator will tell you how many calorie you need per day by doing absolutely nothing. The calculator will ask for your height, weight, age and gender. For me, my BMR is 1260 calories per day. It is not recommended to take less than 1200 calorie per day for women and not less than 1500 calorie per day for men. 

Step 2

Now that you know your BMR, calculate how many calorie you need to eat per day using this calculator. Enter all the information requested, you need to fill in info of exercise level, select the options from doing little/no exercise etc and you will find out the calorie needed. For me would be I do exercise 3 times a week, so my normal calorie needed / maintenance is 1571:

Maintenance:  1571 calories per day

Fat loss : 1257 calories per day 

Step 3

Find your calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is when the amount of food energy calorie you use is less than the the total calorie you use. Take the total calorie you consume per day and subtract the TDEE (calorie you burn by doing nothing). My TDEE is 1260 (doing nothing), my normal calorie rate to consume per day is 1571  including my activities. 

1571 - 1260 = 311

Then take the calorie you burn if you work out, add it to 311.

Let say if I burn 400 calorie for 45 minutes of exercise. Thus:

-400 + 311 = -89

Thus my calorie deficit is -89. This is the calorie I burn throughout the day. 

Step 4

Every pound is 3500 calories. So if you just want to loss one pound, you have to burn 3500 calories. 

-89 (my deficit calorie) x 7 (7 days a week) = 623 calories

So I am burning 623 a week assuming I eat 1571 calorie a day and exercise 45 minutes.

If you  divide 623 (calorie burn per week) by 3500 (calorie per pound) I got 0.178 pound, which is the amount I loss per week. 

(source from about.com)

To check the calorie of food you eat, use this calculator if don't already know one. 

Stay tuned for post part 3 coming soon.