How to Manage to Lose Weight

Eat Less

• To eat fewer calories than you need, you have to determine how many calories you actually need.

  Adults can calculate their approximate energy needs using the following formula:

  (Note: This assumes that you are almost totally inactive. To determine the caloric requirements added by exercise, go to Step 3.)

  Basal Metabolic Rate
  Body weight multiplied by 12 (for men) or 11 (for women); e.g., 160 lbs. x 12 = 1920

  Activity
  One-third body weight multiplied by the number of hours you don't sleep, typically 16 hours; 160 lbs. x 1/3 = 53 x 16 = 848

  Required Calories
  A + B; 1920 + 848 = 2,768

  Thus, we determine that a 160-lb. man requires approximately 2,768 calories per day. The "Basal Metabolic Rate" is the number of calories a man of that weight would burn just to keep the heart beating, the lungs pumping, and so on. You would just burn your basal metabolic rate worth of calories if you slept 24 hours per day. "Activity" is approximately the amount of calories a person would expend by spending her whole day sitting around. This attempts to hit an average between the hours you spend sitting around and actually doing things (e.g., pretending to work, driving or talking on the phone) and the amount of time you spend just sitting there and watching TV. If you spend more time watching TV than walking around, you may want to decrease your activity level a couple of hours to get a more accurate "Activity" number. Conversely, if you are an exercising machine, you may want to add a couple more hours to your "Activity" level.

  Any deviation from sitting around can be considered exercise and added to the amount expended when you get to Step 3.

  Adult females can calculate their approximate energy needs using the same formula, except that A (the "Basal Metabolic Rate") is determined by multiplying body weight times 11 (e.g., 130 lbs. x 11 = 1,430).

  Children and teenagers require more calories by body weight, but we're not going to tell you how much. There's no way we're going to recommend that you take some course of action with your children so you can screw them up and then come and sue us. Talk to your pediatrician or family physician for advice on the caloric needs of your young.

  Cut back

  Once you've determined how much you need to eat, stop eating that much. To reduce your calorie intake to an amount less than you require, you'll have to keep track of how much you eat. The best way to do this is to track your calories online with a tool like The Daily Plate (see Resources). You can also buy a book that includes an extensive list of foods and the number of calories each item contains. A good, thorough listing takes many, many pages; don't buy something that just contains a 1-page list of "sample caloric values," because you eat lots of different things. If you don't want to buy a book, you can just eat nothing but packaged foods that indicate the number of calories they contain. This works if you only eat at home, but if you eat out at all, you need the listings to help you estimate the caloric intake from your restaurant meals. Some chain restaurants really have their acts together, and they can tell you the caloric content of their menu items; ask a non-drooling staff member who seems potentially literate.

  Now that you have the means to keep track of your caloric intake, set a daily allowance and stick to it. As we noted earlier, you could lose 2 lbs. per week by reducing your intake by 500 calories' worth of food and increasing your expenditure by 500 calories' worth of exercise. If you want to lose 2 lbs., simply take the daily caloric requirement you've already calculated and subtract 500 from it (e.g., a 160-lb. man would subtract 500 from 2,768 and come up with 2,268). If you want to lose 1 lb. per week, subtract 250 from your requirement. It is very difficult to function on a diet that is more than 500 calories under your requirement, and we don't recommend trying to follow such a diet. Under no circumstances should you reduce your caloric intake to fewer than 1,200 calories per day.

  Now that you've calculated your daily allowance, you just need to keep track of what you eat and stick to your diet. Let's say that your daily requirement is 2,500 calories and you've lowered that by 500 calories to a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet. That means you can have three meals of 600 calories each and one snack of 200 calories or a couple of 100-calorie drinks throughout the day. Don't forget to include drinks, by the way. You must include everything, from mints to "nibbles" to "healthy things that don't count." Don't play yourself that way. A calorie is a calorie, whether it came from a doughnut or a glass of organic prune juice. One exception: You can eat as much celery as you want. Celery is composed almost entirely of water and fiber, and the few calories it contains are burned up in the process of chewing it. Celery is great to chew when you're feeling hungry, which will happen. When you knock down your intake by 500 calories, your body notices, and it lets you know by making you feel hungry. Ignore this. Eat lots of celery; eat low-fat, high-fiber meals; and drink lots of water.

  Be strong.