Determining Daily Caloric Need-Week One

I thought I'd share my favorite websites that I keep going back to help figure out what my daily caloric need is and online journals to track my food. Here you go:



http://caloriecount.about.com/

http://www.freedieting.com/

http://www.fitday.com/



I strongly encourage you all to find out what your daily caloric need is. It will vary for all of us depending on age, activity level and current weight.



If you are tracking calories (versus tracking points on weight watchers, which is also a great program), an important number to keep in mind is 3500. Why? 3500 is the number of calories that equal one pound. To lose one pound of weight per week, you need to have a deficit of 3500 calories.



Let's say that to maintain your current weight, you need to eat 2,000 calories a day or 14,000 calories a week. If your looking to lose that one pound, you could shoot for a reduction of 500 calories a day from dieting or a burn of 500 calories a day from excercise or some combination thereof (500*7=3500). Make sense?



Remember also, a calorie is not just a calorie. Keep it clean....stay tuned...we'll talk about clean eating next week!



Drop me a note if you have questions or suggestions!

Victoria