Customize your Calories

From the Reader's Digest:

One of the wonderful things about this world is that we’re all different. Different sizes, shapes, personalities, and backgrounds. That also means when dealing with diabetes and managing our diets, each individual benefits from a customized approach.

The factors that influence how many calories you need each day include weight, metabolism, and activity level. You can get a good idea of how many calories you need to maintain your current weight by using the “Rule of 10.” Follow these three steps:

1. Do the math. Multiply your weight by 10. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, you get 1,750. This is approximately how many calories you body needs to function at rest.

2. Rate your activity level. You need to know how many calories you’re burning through physical activity. Rate yourself on the following scale:
• If you’re totally sedentary, give yourself a 3.
• If you’re moderately active, give yourself a 5.
• If you’re very active, give yourself a 7.

3. Add it up. Now take the activity number you chose and multiply it by 100, then add the result to the calories number from the first step. For example, if the first number was 1,750 calories and you’re sedentary, add 300, which is three times 100. That equals a total of 2,050 calories per day. While this is a rough estimate, it will give you a good ballpark. Figures for men and women may differ because men tend to have more muscle which burns calories even at rest.

Your next question is likely: How many calories should eat to lose weight? Consider this fact: A pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories so you need to cut 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. Obviously, this is not an amount you can expect to lose overnight—or even in a week. But the slow and steady calorie deficit that you achieve with diet and exercise can gradually trim away those pounds.

Weight control is essentially an energy-management issue that involves a simple law: If you want to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories, burn more calories through exercise, or both. As far as shaving off calories from your daily intake, don’t make radical cuts. Try eating 100 or 200 fewer calories a day and see how easy that is to accomplish. Then, consistency is key: If you maintain that lower level of intake or burn a higher level of calories (or both) over, say, two weeks and you’ll begin to see a reduction of weight without even thinking about it.