Articles
Counting calories: Get back to weight-loss basics
Content
Calories: Fuel for your body
Tipping the scale
Cutting calories
Saving calories by cutting high-calorie, low-nutrition items
Swapping high-calorie foods for lower calorie options
Reducing your portion sizes
Putting it all together
Tipping the scale
Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight.
In general, if you cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day from your typical diet, you'll lose about 1 pound (0.5 kilogram) a week.
It sounds simple. However, it's more complex because when you lose weight, you usually lose a combination of fat, lean tissue and water. Also, because of changes that occur in the body as a result of weight loss, you may need to decrease calories further to continue weight loss.
