Your Daily Calorie Target
Think eating less than your recommended calorie target will help you lose weight faster? Think again!
Remember, your calorie target is just that: yours
Your daily calorie target that is calculated for you is the number of calories you should aim to eat each day. Eating this many or fewer calories is an essential step toward meeting your weight-loss goal. Most tracking tools calculate your personal calorie target based on your height, weight, gender, goal weight, and date using proven scientific formulas. So, the shorter (or closer) the goal date, or the more pounds you want to lose, the lower your daily calorie target will be. Please note that your daily target calorie goal will change as your weight changes: when you lose weight, your body tends to need fewer calories. So to continue losing weight, you may need to eat a little less. You should enter your weight in your tracker at least once a month. Please discuss the suggested daily calorie target goal with your healthcare provider and make sure it’s right for you. Because it’s your personal goal, it may not look the same as what a friend or spouse would have as a goal—some people will need fewer calories and some will need more.
You could also meet your daily goal by burning calories through physical activity. Keep in mind, however, that it takes a lot of physical activity to burn one pound of fat; most people would need to walk 25 to 30 miles a week or take an hour-long aerobics class on an almost daily basis. The most important benefits, however, can be improvements in your mood, health, and long-term weight management.
Slow and steady wins the race
You may be tempted to cut calories even more to lose weight faster. This is not a good idea for 2 reasons:
- Eating too little is not good for you. It’s not healthy to take in less than 1000 calories a day. By eating under 1000 calories, you may be losing weight at the expense of good nutrition. If you eat less than 1000 calories a day, let your healthcare provider know. You may need extra medical monitoring and may need to see a registered dietitian for nutritional advice
- When you lose weight too fast, it’s harder to keep the weight off. If you’re losing more than one to 2 lbs each week, you are probably making drastic changes that may be very hard to maintain and are more likely to gain the weight back later. If you aim for gradual weight loss, you will be more likely to maintain your weight loss