Many studies have shown that significantly depriving your body of calories may actually work against you, and that a far better solution is a small reduction that burns fat more gradually.
Using a round number of calories to cut out (like 500 calories or 1,000 calories) is not the most accurate way to determine how to reduce your calorie intake.
This is because the amount of calories consumed daily by each individual can vary greatly, making the reduction either too high or too low depending on your normal calorie consumption.
For example, cutting 500 calories from a 2000 calorie diet represents a much larger decrease than cutting those same 500 calories from a 3500 calorie plan.
Instead, you should aim to use a percentage decrease in calories to lose weight fast.
The most effective and widely accepted percentage is 15-20% below your maintenance level.
Your maintenance level is the number of calories you require each day to maintain your current weight.
There are two formulas you can use to determine your own individual number of daily calories to lose weight fast…
The “Harris Benedict Formula” requires you to first determine your basic metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body requires daily for natural processes such as breathing, circulation and digestion.
You then use an activity multiplier to take into account your additional daily activities to determine how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight.
You can then decrease this number by 15-20% to find out your daily intake of calories to lose weight fast.
Calculate the BMR by using the following formula:
Men: 66 + (13.7 * bodyweight in kg) + (5 * height in cm) – (6.8 * age in years) = BMR
Women: 655 + (9.6 * bodyweight in kg) + (1.8 * height in cm) – (4.7 * age in years) = BMR
Multiply that number by the activity multiplier:
Sedentary = BMR * 1.2 (if you get little to no exercise)
Lightly Active = BMR * 1.375 (if you get light exercise: 1-3 days a week)
Moderately Active = BMR * 1.55 (if you get moderate exercise: 3-5 days a week)
Very active = BMR * 1.725 (if you get intense exercise: 6-7 days a week)
Extremely Active = BMR * 1.9 (if you get intense daily exercise and you also have a strenuous physical job).
Reducing that number by 15-20% will provide you with the target number of calories to lose weight fast.
The other formula you can use to determine your target calorie reduction is the “Katch-McArdle Formula”.
This formula is an even more accurate way to determine your target number of calories to lose weight fast because it factors in your lean body mass, leading to a more accurate metabolic reading.
To use the Katch-McArdle formula, calculate your BMR using the following:
BMR = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)
Your lean body mass simply represents any type of body weight that is NOT fat.
You can determine this number if you have had your body fat levels tested.
The more extreme your body type (leaner or fatter) the more critical it is to factor in your lean body mass to determine your target number of calories to lose weight fast.
Once you’ve factored in your lean body mass, you simply use the activity multiplier and then reduce by the 15-20% required.
Reducing your calories by more than this level can end up slowing down your results by triggering your body’s natural starvation mechanisms.
If your calories dip too low, your body will stop burning fat as a way to conserve energy.
Reducing calories to lose weight fast by using a percentage of your typical caloric intake will ensure that your metabolism stays steady, your body burns fat, and your lean muscle mass doesn’t decrease.
Filed under Meal Plans & Nutrition by on Jan 13th, 2010. Comment. 
Baby fat refers to the fatty tissue present in children, which they should ideally outgrow when they physically mature. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
But not everyone is able to get rid of their baby fat. To make matters worse, people often mix up plain fat, which accumulates due to an incorrect diet and not enough exercise, with baby fat. This leads us to a very pertinent question—how to lose baby fat?
Well, most people have already experienced that putting on fat is easier than losing it. However, it is not impossible. Keep reading if you really want to learn how to lose baby fat.
First and foremost, you need to find out if the fat that you have is really baby fat. If you’re in your twenties and think that you still have some residual baby fat, you need to clear your misconceptions. The majority of people lose their baby fat during puberty. It may persist until late in the teenage years in some stubborn cases.
You need to know how to lose baby fat (or any other fat) before you can actually lose it. Here are some tips that will get you on the road to fat loss.
1) Cut down on the number of calories.
In order to function properly, your body needs a certain number of calories every day. It takes these calories from food. You put on weight when the food that you eat contains more calories than your body needs.
In order to learn how to lose baby fat, you will first have to estimate how many calories your body requires on a daily basis to sustain itself. Once you’ve hit upon this figure, you need to cut down on your calorie intake.
Do not starve your body in an attempt to lose baby fat. Not only will it not work, you’ll also end up ruining your health. In order to lose baby fat you should aim to consume 15% to 20% lesser calories than your body needs to maintain itself.
2) Hit the gym.
In the quest to learn how to lose baby fat, exercise is the key. Lack of exercise is the most common reason for piling on fat. If you’ve never exercised before, it’s a good idea to consult a doctor before you start exercising and to take it slow during the first couple of weeks.
If you’ve been going to the gym regularly but still haven’t seen any gains, don’t worry. I’m going to tell you two secret workout tips that will answer any questions that you may have on how to lose baby fat.
The first secret (and the most well-kept one) is weight training. Did you know that weight training can change your body into a fat burning furnace? Weight training does so because it increases the amount of muscle tissue in your body. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue; this means that when you have more muscle, you will start to burn more fat.
High intensity cardio exercise is the second well-kept secret.
The keywords are “high intensity.”.
A leisurely one hour walk is good for your health but won’t help you to burn fat.
3) A good night’s sleep.
When you’re young and have a thousand things to do, sleep takes a back seat.
If you want to learn how to lose baby fat, you need to take this bit of advice very seriously.
Ensure that you get at least 8 hours of sleep every night.
Yes, you may have to cut back on your gaming time or on the amount of time that you spend surfing the Internet, but trust me, it’s worth it.
You will feel hungrier and tend to snack more frequently throughout the day when you don’t get enough sleep.
Give yourself an edge in your battle to lose baby fat by checking out our post on fat burning foods.
Filed under Fat Burning by on Nov 2nd, 2009. Comment.
There is so much bull pedaled as the truth when it comes to burning fat that it is hard to know who to believe or even where to start to look to find the answers you need.
Everyone wants to be slimmer and trimmer and no one has an easy time of getting there.
We are willing to pay almost anything, do almost anything, to get that life guard or starlet body.
And our real need to do this had given birth to a huge, multi-billion dollar industry as much concerned with keeping you fat as helping you lose weight quickly.
Thankfully there are a few honest people in this business who really do care about your health and fitness and would like nothing better than to help you gain the trim, fit, sculpted body that you want and deserve.
Sean Nalewanyj is one such person. Sean has given me permission to give to you a free sample of his best selling book, “The Truth About Burning Fat“. This is the core around which his full The Real Deal Fat Loss System is built.
To download your personal copy of Your Complete Step-By-Step Guide To A Lean, Defined & Healthy Body right click on the link and select “Save As”.
You will need Adobe Reader to read and print your Logbook. You probably already have this on your computer, but if not you can download it at no cost from Adobe.
Filed under by on Oct 27th, 2009. Comment.
If you’re a woman, you’ve probably noticed that it’s harder for you lose fat and keep it off than the men in your life. As child bearers, women are genetically predisposed to higher fat ratios, but the baseless fears many women have about how weight training will shape their bodies also contributes to the problem.
In order to lose the fat fast and enjoy a firm, shapely physique, it’s imperative that women include a significant amount of intense weight training in their workout routine.
Muscle, a metabolically active tissue, actually helps to burn fat. Higher muscle content raises your metabolism, burning more calories even when you’re resting. Building and maintaining lean muscle is a smart and strategic way to lose the fat fast.
Intense weight lifting and resistance training will increase the mitochondria in your muscle fibers. These “powerhouses” in the muscle cells convert nutrients into energy. When you want to lose the fat fast, an increase in mitochondria gives you an edge.
Many women feel that weight training is not an option because they fear adding extra bulk or looking masculine. Once you know the facts, you’ll see that this fear is completely irrational. Thanks to hormones, women build muscle tissue even more slowly and gradually than men.
Even unusually extreme responses to weight training can be noticed in time to modify the training routine and prevent further muscle gain.
When you want to lose the fat fast and obtain a lean, feminine form, weight training is the most effective approach. By focusing on weight and resistance training, you’ll be able to overcome your fear of bulking up and lose the fat fast.
Weight training is effective to not only build and maintain muscle mass but also to burn fat of its own accord. Mainly, your body burns carbohydrates during a weightlifting session, but the intensity of the workout dramatically boosts your metabolism.
While your body recovers from weightlifting during the 24 hours after you leave the gym, it’s actually burning more calories. This is one more way in which weight training helps you to lose the fat fast.
Sometimes, men and women worry that weight training will make it harder to maintain their athletic agility, speed, and flexibility. There is no need to worry about this.
Weight training actually works to improve speed, agility, and flexibility, all the while improving your athletic ability, protecting your body from injury, and making it possible to lose the fat fast. The lean and muscular physiques of sprinters and football running backs bear testament to this fact.
Perhaps the most important benefit of weight training for women is that it works to prevent osteoporosis, an aging issue that will affect most women in their lifetime.
Filed under Fat Burning by on Oct 21st, 2009. Comment.
We all know that if we are really serious about losing a little weight and getting rid of that fat that is hanging around our middle that we simply have to stop taking in so many calories.
But knowing and doing, especially doing it right, are two separate things.
Go overboard with caloric restriction and you can actually lose muscle instead of fat!
So how do we get it right? Watch Sean as he gives us the straight scoop. He really knows what he is talking about.
To help you on your way to a fitter, trimmer you, download one of our free Fat Burning Meal Plans.
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Filed under Fat Burning by on Oct 20th, 2009. Comment.
