How Many Calories Should a Woman Eat Per Day to Lose Weight?

A whopping 64 percent of American women are considered overweight or obese, according to the Weight-Control Information Network. As obesity increases, so does the risk for chronic disease -- such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. While calorie reduction is one of the most effective strategies for women to shed extra pounds, it's important to note that a woman’s individualized calorie needs for weight loss are based on her initial body weight, current calorie intake and activity level.

General Recommendations

Most women seeking weight loss – without medical supervision – require between 1,000 and 1,600 calories per day to safely lose weight. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute suggests that active women, and those weighing more than 165 pounds, often require 1,200 to 1,600 calories a day for weight loss. Inactive females weighing 164 pounds or less often require 1,000 to 1,200 calories daily to effectively shed pounds.

Considerations for Exercise

Adding exercise to your weight-loss regimen can help increase lean body mass, reduce body fat and help keep lost weight off long term. The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends women participate in 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise each week and muscle-strengthening exercises at least two times weekly. Active women who participate in strenuous physical activity generally require about 18 calories for each pound of their desirable body weight daily, according to the University of Washington.

Individualized Needs

Eating 500 fewer calories than you normally consume will help you drop 1 pound weekly, and reducing your intake by 1,000 calories a day often leads to a 2-pound-weekly weight loss, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For example, if your usual intake is 2,400 calories daily, aim for 1,400 to 1,900 calories a day for safe and effective weight loss. Use an online calorie counter -- such as Myfitnesspal.com -- to track your current calorie intake. Or, use an online calorie needs calculator provided by the American Council on Exercise to determine your daily calorie needs.

Calorie-Reduction Strategies

To increase satiety and make it easier to reduce your total calorie intake for weight loss, try drinking water before meals, boosting protein intake and choosing high-fiber foods. Healthy, protein-rich foods include lean meats, seafood, skinless poultry, soy products, low-fat dairy foods, egg whites and seitan. Choose fiber-rich nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. ChooseMyPlate.gov suggests filling half your plate with fruits and veggies, about one-fourth with grains and about one-fourth with protein foods. Eliminate added sugars, sweets, sugary drinks and refined-grains -- such as white bread.

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Differences Between Burning Calories & Burning Fat

Your body burns fat and calories throughout the day to supply energy needed for activity and basic metabolic functions. When you exercise, your body draws on recently consumed calories as well as energy stores for fuel. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, a portion of the energy you expend comes from stored fat.

Where Body Fat Comes From

Calories from the food and beverages you consume either get used immediately or are stored as energy reserves. Your body converts unneeded calories to triglycerides, which are stored in fat cells. Triglycerides can come from fat in your diet or can be made from other calorie sources such as carbohydrates. Essentially, any excess calories you consume get stored as fat. Your body taps triglyceride stores to access energy between meals and, in general, to get fuel for activities when immediate energy from food is not available.

Burning Calories or Fat

When you exercise, your body uses available calories from carbohydrates for energy first. Once carbs have been depleted, triglycerides are released from fat cells to supply additional energy to fuel your physical activity. Since you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume in order to burn one pound of fat, you're technically burning both calories and fat. Burning more calories than you take in forces your body to access energy stored as fat. Likewise, burning fat without increasing your caloric intake means that your body will use more of the calories you consume and store less of them.

Diet and Exercise Effects

You create a calorie deficit when you reduce your caloric intake, increase your level of physical activity or do a combination of both. No matter which method you use, if you eat fewer calories than you need, your body will access fat stores for energy. Your body burns calories constantly to support metabolic functions, physical activity and digestion. Whether those calories come from readily accessible calories or fat stores, you're going to burn fat as long as you maintain a calorie deficit.

Considerations

If you consistently eat more calories than you burn, you won't make a dent in body fat. Even if you exercise when your carbohydrate stores are depleted, as soon as you supply your body with more calories than you need, you start storing the excess as triglycerides. In this case, you're essentially burning calories and storing fat. Even though you may be burning fat during exercise, the effect is only temporary. The American Council on Exercise says that the fat-burning zone is a myth. If you want to lose weight and body fat, the bottom line is that you must create a calorie deficit.

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How to Burn Calories on the Elliptical Machine with 6 Helpful Tips

You can make the most of calorie burning as well as fat loss while utilizing the elliptical machine. This equipment works by means of effortlessly putting into practice the following easy-to-follow measures throughout your subsequent elliptical machine exercises. Using the elliptical machine will help you considerably augment calorie burning as well as invigorate your metabolism and exercise. Learn to burn calories on the elliptical machine.

Tip #1: Do some raise incline.

If you want to burn a good number of calories and discharge large amounts of fat utilizing the elliptical trainer, you should elevate the slope as high as your body can put up with. The higher the slope, the more immense the physical effort required to intensify the elliptical. This then changes into a stronger exercise and result to extra calories burned.

Tip #2: Elevate strength level.

In intensifying calorie burning and enhancing fat deficit, you should set the elliptical machine strength level sufficiently high to make you work. Do not fritter away your time bopping during a gradual, simple exercise. Raise the strength and obtain tremendous heart speed pumping because the more you perspire, the more calories you will burn. You will gain great metabolic improvement as well.

Tip #3: Perform intervals.

You must include interval exercise into your elliptical workout if you want to burn extra calories and fat in just a brief period of time. Interval exercise blends brief, rapid spurts of action together with episodes of more gradual movement. You must move quick and tough for about 30-45 seconds, pull back and relax around 30-45 seconds as well then do the repetition. You can perform this about 5-10 times on top of the course of action to considerably intensify calorie burning and to enhance fat deficit.

Tip #4: Stay away from taking hold of bars/rails.

Taking hold of the elliptical machine guide rails reduces the strength of the workout, resulting to lessened calorie burn. If you really want to burn lots of calories throughout your elliptical machine exercise, you should do it by standing up in the right position and by keeping your hands away from the rails. Allow your legs and shoulder to put more weight on your body. Performing this type of workout will considerably intensify calorie burning.

Tip #5: Utilize a manually operated elliptical machine.

Utilizing a manually operated elliptical machine provides you a great deal of power and flexibility on top of your elliptical exercise, which lets you burn a large number of calories. The manually operated elliptical machine allows you to instantaneously regulate your strength levels and exercise outline. It is also considered as the most excellent elliptical machine setting that will guarantee utmost exercise strengths as well as calorie burning.

Tip #6: Try shadow boxing while using the elliptical machine.

If you are already using an elliptical machine, you can add up shadow boxing. It is excellently effortless to do shadow boxing. You can never go wrong performing it. Just perform alternate punches using the left and right hands. The more you throw punches, the greater amount of calories you will burn.
Take advantage of the fact that elliptical machines will help you in burning calories. You can always make a combination of workouts using the machine. If you want you can also device a workout plan with the use of the elliptical.

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Is It Better to Watch Fat or Calories to Lose Weight?

If you want to lose weight---specifically fat---it would seem that you should limit fat in your diet. Fat is only one of three major macronutrients that make up the human diet, and some is necessary to keep your system running smoothly. When it comes down to it, your overall energy intake, in the form of calories, plays the biggest role in your ability to lose, gain or maintain weight.

Features of Weight Loss

Calories represent how much energy a food provides. Consume 3,500 calories less than you burn to lose one pound. Fat is often a central concern when considering calories because, as macronutrients go, it is the most calorically dense. While carbohydrates and protein contain four calories per gram, fat contains nine calories per gram. Cutting out fat seems like it would be a simple way to reduce caloric intake and thus lose weight, but it is not quite that easy.

Importance of Fat

The body needs some fat to stimulate hormone production, facilitate the absorption of certain vitamins and to provide insulation for internal organs. Fats are also a source of energy for the body and take longer to digest than carbohydrates, so they contribute to sensations of satisfaction and satiation. Fats are found in most proteins, dairy and some plant sources.

Types of Fat

Although you need some fat in your diet, not all kinds of fat are equally desirable. Saturated forms of fat, largely found in animal products, contribute to weight gain as well as other health conditions, says the American Heart Association. In a 2003 Australian study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, lead author L.S. Piers said swapping saturated fat with monounsaturated versions induced a significant loss of body weight, even though participants did not significantly change caloric or fat intake. Avoiding trans fats will also help with weight loss. A Wake Forest University study led by Kylie Kavanagh and published in a 2007 edition of the journal Obesity found that monkeys fed a diet high in trans fats, despite it being a calorically controlled diet, gained significant weight---particularly in their bellies.

Effects of Low-Calorie Diets

Reducing your overall caloric intake has been shown to be the most effective method in losing weight. A randomized clinical trial performed by the Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University System, compared four different diets over a two-year period. The results, published in a February 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated that regardless of a diet's macronutrient make-up, reducing calories results in weight loss. The trial's 811 participants ate either a low-fat/average protein, low-fat/high protein, high fat/high protein or high fat/average protein diet. Each diet followed nutritionally sound principles, focusing on unsaturated fats, whole grains and produce. All participants succeeded in losing similar amounts of weight and in reducing waist circumference, leading researchers to conclude that a total reduction in calories is the key to weight loss results.

Verdict

As long as you limit your intake of saturated fat and eliminate most trans fats, your total intake of fat should be of less concern than your total caloric intake when you try to lose weight. For health purposes, it makes sense to follow American Heart Association guidelines of consuming 25 to 35 percent of your total daily calories from fat, with only 7 percent of those fat calories coming from saturated sources. Because reduced calories impact weight loss, keep track of your fat intake, as fats are more calorically dense than other macro-nutrients. Accent your meals with small servings of healthy fat---sprinkle nuts over your oatmeal, drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil on your salad or add a slice of avocado to your sandwich.

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