Anyway, I was thinking about how pretty much every article I’ve read about dieting mentions the word “calories” but offers little – if any – explanation about what calories are or how they really work.  Right? Right. Maybe if you had a better understanding of calories you would be able to distinguish between weight-loss plans that actually work and the ones that are nothing but a waste of time. So I decided to write this cutting calories to lose weight article to shed some light (hopefully) on this subject.

Calories 101

Every daily activity, from exercise to digestion to simple breathing, requires energy.  This energy comes from the food we eat in the form of calories.  So a calorie is defined as the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of water by one degree.

When you consume calories, two things happen: (1) some of the calories you eat will be tapped by the body as an immediate source of ready energy, particularly if you are exercising; and (2) the rest of the calories you consume will be stored away as body fat to be drawn on for energy in the future.

How to Make Your Calories Count

As long as you eat healthy, balanced meals consisting of fewer calories than your  body burns off, losing weight won’t be a problem for you. But if you’re taking in the same amount of calories as the amount your body burns off, you will have a problem getting rid of  those unwanted pounds. And if you’re taking in more calories than your body can burn off, you are going to put on even more weight.

So here’s the solution: If you really want to get rid of those extra pounds, you MUST create a caloric deficit. What this means is that you take in a smaller amount of calories than your body burns as fuel in a day, forcing your body to draw on stored body fat for extra energy.  If you create a caloric deficit, you will lose unwanted body fat and those excess pounds. It’s that simple!

Now you might be wondering how many calories should you cut from your diet?  After all, you don’t want to cut too much because your body can go into “starvation mode” (if done over an extended period of time) and you will gain weight.  For maximum results, you want to maintain just a slight deficit — 300 to 500 fewer calories  than your body‘s daily caloric needs, so that your body can burn fat, but avoid slowing down your metabolism.

And you can easily reduce your calorie intake by eating slightly smaller portions (at each meal) more frequently (as I recommend in the 10 Fat Burning Foods post, you should spread out your daily food intake over 4 – 6 meals).

You can make diet changes gradually to make sure you are adding calories that are going to help you lose weight and eliminate or stay away from those empty calories.

Not sure about what to eat? Read the following posts: 10 Fat Burning Foods,  15 Easy Six Pack Abs Diet Tips and 5 Six Pack Abs Diet Food Label Tips.

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