How much should i intake in calories

Try other unsweetened beverages like coffee, tea, and sparkling water to meet your hydration needs. Some studies have shown that drinking water may improve your health and help you eat fewer calories by increasing your feelings of fullness. When you eat fewer calories, your body compensates by saving energy, making you burn fewer calories.

As such, long-term calorie restriction can significantly slow your metabolism and lead to a loss of muscle over time. Resistance-training activities like weightlifting have been shown to prevent muscle loss and stop your metabolism from slowing during long-term calorie restriction Cardio exercises, such as walking, swimming, or jogging, can also be important — both for increasing weight loss and supporting overall health Additionally, exercise has a variety of other benefits that go beyond weight loss, such as increased longevity, enhanced energy levels, improved mental health, and a decreased risk of chronic disease 23 , 24 , 25 , Resistance training can help prevent muscle loss and keep your metabolism from slowing when cutting calories.

Cardio exercises can also help support other aspects of health. It also includes sugar and other sweeteners. Refined grains typically lack fiber, which supports weight loss by decreasing your appetite and increasing feelings of fullness Eating fewer carbs, including fewer refined carbs, may also promote weight loss by altering levels of specific hormones that regulate your appetite, such as peptide YY Refined carbs are low in fiber, which can help regulate your appetite and increase feelings of fullness.

Choose more complex carbs and nutrient-dense options like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. If you do decide to cut calories, you should be careful not to decrease your intake too much, as this could cause several serious side effects, including increased hunger, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, and nausea 4.

Consuming too few calories can also slow your metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term 5. Losing weight in a sustainable way also takes time. Focusing exclusively on numbers and weight can also lead to disordered eating Cutting calories too much can harm your health and make it harder to maintain weight loss. Many websites and apps can help you track your calorie intake. How many calories you need per day depends on whether you want to maintain, lose, or gain weight , as well as various other factors, such as your sex, age, height, current weight, activity level, and metabolic health.

Making simple dietary and lifestyle changes, including exercising, drinking plenty of water, and increasing your protein intake, can help you lose weight and improve your health. Getting good quality sleep is an important part of weight loss. Feet Meters. Pounds Kilograms. Maintain Current Weight. Lose Weight. Gain Weight. Sedentary Little or no exercise. Here are your next steps to lose weight: 1.

Pick a weight-loss workout plan. Shortcut to Shred. Alpha M's Tailored. Lean at Home. Here are your next steps to gain muscle: 1. Pick a muscle-building workout plan. Shortcut to Size. Kris Gethin Muscle Building.

Modern Physique. Garage Gains. Here are the next steps on your journey to customize your nutrition: 1. Pick a workout plan. Home Body. Maintain current weight First time counting calories? Lose weight If you know that you're ready to lose a few pounds and you've counted calories before, select "lose weight. Gain weight Gaining weight—especially as muscle—sounds easy enough.

Here's how to figure out what's right for you: Sedentary: You work at a desk job and you don't do much housework, walking, or exercising. Lightly active: You don't exercise much, but you go for walks times per week and are on your feet doing housework during some of the day.

Moderately active: You exercise times a week and stay moving throughout the day with non-exercise activities. Very active: You exercise intensely or play vigorous sports on most days. Extra active: You exercise intensely or play vigorous sports nearly every day, including occasional "two a days. Here's how it works: Calculate basal metabolic rate BMR , or the calories your body burns simply by being alive. What Does 2, Calories Look Like? The term calorie is commonly used as shorthand for kilocalorie.

You will find this written as kcal on food packets. Kilojoules kJ are the equivalent of kilocalories within the International System of Units, and you'll see both kJ and kcal on nutrition labels.

To find out if you are a healthy weight, use the BMI calculator. To maintain a healthy weight, you need to balance the amount of calories you consume through food and drink with the amount of calories you burn through physical activity.

To lose weight in a healthy way, you need to use more energy than you consume by eating a healthy, balanced diet with fewer calories while increasing your physical activity. Health experts recommend that you fill your plate with:.

Empty calories can leave you feeling hungry, increase your food cravings, and even increase fatigue. You'll find them in processed foods that contain added sugars , trans fat, excess fat, and calories. They may provide energy but not the fiber , vitamins, and minerals you need. There are many factors that contribute to weight loss success. If you don't lose weight right away, it doesn't mean that you have failed or done something wrong.

It might simply mean that you need to stick to your program longer for weight loss to happen. Evaluate your eating and exercise habits to see if there are adjustments you can make to reach your goal.

There may also be medical reasons that you can't lose weight. So talk to your healthcare provider if you are concerned. Your doctor may be able to refer you to a registered dietitian for personalized nutrition advice. If you have a higher amount of weight to lose, they might also talk to you about weight loss medications or weight-loss surgeries to help you lose weight.

Looking to lose weight? Our nutrition guide can help you get on the right track. Sign up for our newsletter and get it free! Macronutrients and caloric intake in health and longevity.

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StatPearls Publishing; updated August 25, Direct effects of thyroid hormones on hepatic lipid metabolism. Nature Rev Endocrinol. Verhaegen A, Van Gaal L. Drugs that affect body weight, body fat distribution, and metabolism. Updated February 11, Food and Drug Administration.

How to understand and use the Nutrition Facts label. Updated March 11, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What is healthy weight loss? Reviewed August 17, Sanford Health. How to gain healthy weight. Published January 18, Micronutrient deficiency in obese subjects undergoing low calorie diet. Nutr J.