After struggling with my weight for 10 years, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I didn’t fail because diet, exercise, and products didn’t work for me. I failed because I am just like millions of other people in the world. I just can’t stick to anything. I’m too busy sometimes and to honest with you I have my lazy moments. This is no one’s fault but my own. But does that mean that people like me should have to die an early death because we are not disciplined enough? I don’t think so. Unless some of us has our own personal trainer, we have trouble sticking with the program. There must be something we can do. That’s what I told myself, and there was something. Getting knowledge was the answer. Most people already know what I am about to say and some won’t. This information is for people who want to customize their weight loss program. Look at it this way, if you decide to build a car from scratch, you have to learn the basics. Then you begin to put your own vision into your design. Your car looks different from other cars and runs different from other cars too, but it is a car that runs. You did it your way. Weight loss is no different. Everyone’s body is different and responds to food and exercise differently. If you are going to do this on your own, you have to learn the basics. Then I will show you what I have done to jump start my weight loss my way.

We have all heard low carb this and diet that. But weight loss is simple. The experts just don’t want you to know how simple it is. They throw out these 5 syllable terms to gain our trust and admiration when all they have to say is simple. If your weekly caloric intake is 3500 more than your suggested caloric intake, you will gain 1 pound. If you burn an extra 3500 calories a week while consuming your suggested caloric intake, you will lose 1 pound. That’s it! Why 3500? Because we know that 3500 calories stored as fat weighs about 1 pound. Now, there are adjustments that need to be made if you have a medical condition that causes you to gain, but this is a general statement.

Most professionals will tell you that it is more complicated than that. They are right, if you want to know why this process happens. But the purpose of this article is to know WHAT happens. Think of it this way. A calorie is just a unit of energy. If you take in more calories than you need, your body will store it as fat. Fat is just stored energy that your body is saving for a rainy day. If you don’t take in enough calories, your body will begin to burn off stored fat for energy.

Now you need to know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). All this tells you is how many calories you burn at rest. The RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) is a more realistic number because the BMR is determined while fasting under controlled conditions in a lab. However, the BMR is a better number because it tells you how many calories you use just to keep you alive. Here is the formula to show you your approximate BMR.

Step one is to calculate your BMR with the following formula:

• Women: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
• Men: 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

This formula applies only to adults.

From this number you can now figure you daily caloric needs. Here is the next step.

Step two: In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:

• If you are sedentary : BMR x 40%
• If you are lightly active: BMR x 30%
• If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40%
• If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50%

Add this number to your BMR.

Now that you know how many calories you should be consuming, you have a starting point to battle your weight problems your way. Now, if you take in fewer calories than you need and burn more than you usually do and don’t have a medical condition, you will lose weight.

This is only the beginning.

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