How Much Should You Eat?

First, you need to know how many calories you burn in a typical day.  If you want to maintain your weight, eat the same amount of calories that you burn in a day.  If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat.  The only healthy way to do this is through diet (eating less) and exercise (burning more).

To lose one pound, you must burn 3,500 calories.  Most experts agree that healthy weight loss is at a rate of 2 lbs per week.  To do this, you need to burn 7,000 extra calories per week or 1,000 calories per day.  With a combination of decreasing your calorie intake by 500 calories and increasing your exercise to burn 500 calories a day, this goal can be easily achieved.

How Many Calories Do You Burn in a Day?

If you go through the entire day just sitting, doing no exercise, you still burn calories.  To calculate how much, follow these steps:

1.  Multiply your weight by 10 - this is how many calories your body needs for basic metabolic processes.

2.  Factor in your activity level:

     Sedentary: 20% (Sitting most of the day)
     Lightly Active: 37.5% (Walking here and there; daily chores)
     Moderately Active: 40% (Constantly moving around; daily exercise)
     Very Active: 50% (Heavy exercise for prolonged periods of time, such as training for a sport)

     Take the answer to #1 and take the corresponding percentage - this is how many calories you need to go about a typical day.

3.  Figure the energy used in digestion: #1 + #2 * .1

4.  Add #1, #2, and #3 together.  This is how many calories you burn in a day.

200 Calorie Meals

1 can tuna, 1 tsp mayo, lemon juice on small side salad with 5 saltines
1 boca burger, 1 cup steamed broccoli, baked sweet potato
3/4 cup pasta with light italian dressing, tomatoes, mushrooms, peas, carrots, etc.
1/2 cup brown rice with 1/2 cup beans
1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup peas, 8 large boiled shrimp
2 egg veggie omelet
4 oz baked cod with steamed green beans and yellow squash

300 Calorie Meals

Pretty much any frozen Lean Cuisine Meal with small side salad no dressing
1 packet Kraft Easy Mac (microwaveable) and 1 can tuna
6 inch turkey sub, no cheese, light mayo, lots of veggies
1/3 of an 8 egg fritatta, lots of veggies, no cheese, baked in 8 inch pie dish
1 cup pasta with 1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 chicken breast (3 oz), 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup steamed broccoli, slice melted american cheese
1 cup tomato soup, chicken noodle, or minestrone with 1/2 cup oyster crackers
1 medium baked potato topped with 1 cup steamed broccoli and 1 slice melted cheese
4 oz broiled lean steak, sauteed mushrooms, low cal bread with olive oil and garlic
Broiled Eggplant Parmesan

Low Calorie Snacks

    0 cal Diet Soda
  15 cal Sugar Free Popsicle
  20 cal 1 cup steamed broccoli
  22 cal 1 medium tomato, sliced with salt and pepper
  25 cal 1/2 cup watermelon
  40 cal small side salad no dressing
  44 cal 1 med tomato, halved, broiled, with 1 TBS parmesan
  45 cal 1/2 cup carrots 1 TBS light ranch
  54 cal small baked sweet potato
  55 cal 15 grapes
  57 cal 1 cup apple slices
  60 cal 1/2 English Muffin
  60 cal 1 cup strawberries
  70 cal 1 can Tuna
  80 cal 1 banana
  80 cal string cheese
  91 cal 1oz box Raisins
100 cal Mini bag Popcorn
100 cal Special K granola bar