A Low Calorie Diet Plan is Not Just About Calories

A low calorie diet plan does not mean 'an almost no calorie diet plan'. Keep in mind that you have to eat to lose weight. Think of your body as a furnace and your metabolism is the flame. You have to keep putting fuel in the furnace for the flame to continue to burn. When you stop putting fuel in the furnace, your flame goes out. It's the same with your metabolism.

Skipping meals is not the way to healthy weight loss. Many people skip meals to save on calories. This doesn't work. The best way is to spread your meals out over the day. Eating 4 to 6 smaller meals will keep your metabolism furnace on full blast.

Find out how many calories you need to lose weight. A pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories. In order to lose one pound per week, your body must burn 3,500 additional calories per week, which averages to 500 calories per day. The average woman may burn 1700 to 2000 calories per day during normal daily activities. The average man, 2200 to 2500 calories each day. If you subtract 500 from these numbers a woman should create a meal plan based on 1200 to 1400 calories per day. A man should plan on 1500 to 1800.

Your low calorie diet plan should never be less than 1,200 calories. When you consume less than 1,200 calories on a daily basis your body has a hard time getting all the nutrients it needs. You will start to feel a drop in energy because your blood sugar level has dropped. Your metabolism furnace stops running because your body has gone into starvation mode. It thinks it will not be getting anymore food so it tries to hold on to what little bit it is getting.

A low calorie diet plan is not just about calories. A key part of any diet plan is exercise. Exercise is another factor in keeping your metabolism furnace burning. You should try to find an exercise that you enjoy and will keep doing after you have reached your weight goal. It will be a key factor in keeping the weight off.