Lowering Caloric Intake To Lose Fat
Losing Body Fat
caloric intake too much will cause you to lose muscle and lower your metabolic rate, which will make it harder to lose fat.
To get rid of extra body fat safely if you're just trying to lose those last 10 to 20 pounds you need to lower your daily caloric intake enough to lose 1 or 2 pounds of fat per week. A pound of fat contains 3500 calories, so if you decrease your regular weekly caloric intake by 3500 you should lose 1 pound of body fat. This would average out to cutting your normal daily caloric intake by 500 calories. This can easily be done if you eat low calorie, high nutrition foods and avoid high calorie snacks and fast food (some fast food sandwiches contain as many as 1000 calories, and that doesn't even count the calories you'll get from french fries). This doesn't mean that you must decrease your caloric intake by 3500 every single week, just lower it by that much and eat around that amount of calories every week and you should lose approximately 1 pound of fat per week.
Even though you'll need to cut your daily calorie intake to lose fat, you should actually eat more often per day, with 5 or 6 meals daily instead of 2 or 3. This will prevent your body from going into a mini 'starvation' phase due to a longer wait in between meals where it tries to hold onto extra body fat. Eating itself gives you an increase in your metabolic rate, which will also help you get rid of more fat. If you consume low calorie meals throughout the day will also help you keep a constant energy level.
Decreasing your daily caloric intake while eating more often may take some preparation if you lead a busy lifestyle. Try to keep energy bars and shakes handy as they will give you a nutritious low calorie meal when you're on the go.
If you start burning extra calories through exercise, you may not want to lower your weekly caloric intake by 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat per week. It's a good idea to calculate how many calories you are burning per week and count that as part of the 3500 fewer calories you are consuming during the first week.
Part of the reason you don't want to lose to much weight too quickly is because you'll probably be burning muscle as much as fat. Losing muscle will make it harder to lose body fat due to a decreased metabolism. If you consume less calories and exercise you will gradually burn what you want to get rid of - body fat. If it's fat that you are losing you will notice the difference, even if it's just a couple of pounds.
To lose unwanted body fat you'll need to consume less calories than you burn on a daily basis. This sounds simple enough, but you must make sure not to decrease your caloric intake to an unhealthy level. Decreasing your daily
