Disclaimer:  We are not licensed dieticians or physicians.  This article contains advice that is based on personal experience and years of personal research.  Please, consult a dietician or physician prior to any changes to your daily diet.

Everyone wants to be fit or just a little healthier, but many do not watch what they eat.  There are some that are happy with their current weight and simply want to maintain that number.  However, the majority either want to gain or to lose those pounds.

When you hear dieting you think of starving yourself or some crazy fad diet.  The bad news is those techniques only work in the short term and many are very unhealthy for you!  There is not an easy lose weight fast method that is also safe for your body.  The following strategies will take work and discipline to achieve your goals.

If you are one of the minority who wants to maintain what you already have simply continue to consume the number of calories that you need using the BMR and Harris Benedict formula (Click here for to go to those formulas).

For those looking to gain weight take the number of daily calories that your body needs using the formulas mentioned above and add 500 calories per day.  This method will help you to gain one pound a week, which is a very conservative and safe way.  This works because one pound of body weight consists of 3500 calories and 500 calories seven times is one pound.  Another method for small gains is to input the weight that you desire to be into the BMR formula and use that.  IMPORTANT: DO NOT DRASTICALLY INCREASE YOUR CALORIES!

Now, for those of you wanting to shed any extra pounds.  Use the same formulas as mentioned before and this time subtract 500 calories a day and lose one pound per week.  If you add exercise into the equation you will drop the weight even faster.  Just remember to start slowly and work at it.  Never drop more than 1000 calories from your required needs and never drop below 1800 calories for men and 1300 for women.

Again, never start a diet without approval of a licensed dietician or physician.  Now comes the part that will require discipline and time.  It is time to log your caloric intake.
There are two methods that you can choose: one is to use a computer program that will do it all for you or you can do it yourself.

The do it yourself method will require a tracking sheet or notebook for you to list your goals and also your actual intake.  It is always better to list your short-term and long-term goals on paper so that you can review them every day.  Below is an awesome (and FREE) site that will allow you to see how many calories the different foods you eat have.  Also there is a function that you can input a recipe into and see the breakdown of calories.  The site is: http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/

Continue to maintain your discipline and slowly but steadily reach your goals…the safe way!

Posted by: InspireTomorrow.com