The Calories You Need For Weight Loss

I am a big fan of The Biggest Loser. I read the following from Prevention Guide's The Biggest Loser: Couples Weight Loss Planner and thought it was worth sharing.

Calories Count

No matter what you've heard, weight loss boils down to two basic factors: calories in and calories out. If you don't eat fewer calories than you burn, you won't lose weight. If you want to continue losing weight, you have to eat fewer calories, exercise more, or both.

The chart below gives you an idea of how many calories you need for weight loss, depending on your current weight:

CURRENT WEIGHT	CALORIC NEEDS FOR WEIGHT LOSS
150	1,050
160	1,120
170	1,190
180	1,260
190	1,330
200	1,400
210	1,470
220	1,540
230	1,610
240	1,680
250	1,750
260	1,820
270	1,890
280	1,960
290	2,030
300	2,100

If you weigh more than 300 lbs., start by eating 2,100 calories a day. If you weigh less than 150 lbs., plan to eat around 1,050 calories a day.

On The Biggest Loser diet, you learn to focus on the quality of the calories as much as the quantity. Avoid white flour, sugar, and processed foods, which are high in calories and low in nutrients. Also, be sure to eat a variety of whole, natural foods. When you eat more of the good stuff you'll find you want less of the fatty, greasy, sugary foods that helped you pile on the pounds in the first place.

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Source: Prevention Guide's The Biggest Loser: Couples Weight Loss Planner, March 2008 © 2008 Rodale Inc.