Calorie Consumption Keys

The amount of calories that you consume on a daily basis will determine whether you gain or lose weight and this is one of the most important aspects of any weight loss program that you decide to go on.

Studies have been taken where overweight people believed they were eating no more food than other people they associated with who were considerably slimmer than them.

The overweight people were under the false impression that the reason why they were heavier and gaining weight was due to their body's metabolism.

When keeping a record of their food consumption over a specified period of time it was shown that they were actually consuming more calories and it had nothing to do with their metabolism but rather their choice of food and the quantities they were eating.

You only need to reduce your calorie intake by 100 calories per day to make a substantial effect on your weight over the period of the year.

This is a very manageable goal for almost everybody and it is not too difficult to cut back by that amount, however many of the weight loss programs are recommending considerably more reduction in calories making it very difficult to maintain and as a result of this many people are failing to achieve what they start out to do.

Now when you combine the fact that you only need to reduce calories by that much, with additional supplementation of vitamins and minerals that can help your overall health, you can see how you can stay nutritionally balanced throughout the whole weight loss process and not feel as though you are starving yourself.

For many people just knowing that the hurdle is not so great, and that there are suitable supplements to assist them, is enough to ensure that they can start and maintain a good weight loss program.

The problem with restricting your calories too much is the fact that it slows down your metabolism and in doing so it makes it all the more difficult to sustain weight loss.

This is one of the reasons why it is suggested that you don't reduce your calories by an excessive amount on a daily basis if you want to keep reducing weight over the long-term.

On the other hand when you have excess calories over and above the energy needs of your body then these calories will be stored as fat.

You can see by the last two sentences that it is crucially important for you to get your calorie intake levels correct if you are to lose weight.

Your daily calorie requirement depends on a number of different factors including your weight, your age, gender and your lifestyle as a more active person will need more calories due to the fact that they will be burning more in the course of the day.

On average every pound of your body weight represents approximately 3500 calories. Based on this average, to lose 1 pound you will need to reduce your calorie intake by 3500 calories.
On diet alone, you can see how it won't be possible to lose a pound a day unless of course you already have a considerable calorie intake and the reduction will still leave you with sufficient food and nutrition to remain healthy.

Supplements can certainly help to make up for any nutrition deficiencies a lot of the time.

By reducing your calories by only 100 calories per day over the course of the year you would have consumed 36,500 less calories and that converts to a weight reduction of almost 10 1/2 pounds.

That is an easily accomplished weight reduction with very little change to your lifestyle and habits.