Diets Based on a Set Amount of Calories

Your Daily Consumption

• To begin a diet that is based on calories, you must find the amount that you must consume to maintain your current weight. First, determine your activity level, such as inactive or sedentary, moderately active or very active. Multiply your weight by 14 to 16 if you are sedentary, 16 to 18 if you are moderately active, and 18 to 20 if you are very active. As an example, a person weighing 100 pounds who is sedentary would require 1,400 calories a day to maintain her weight.
  
  The number that you come up with to maintain your current weight is a baseline for losing or gaining weight. If you are simply trying to stay at your present weight, your calorie count does not have to change.
  
  

Adjusting Calories

• One pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. Take the number of calories that you must eat daily to maintain your current weight and reduce it by 500. This will result in a 3,500-calorie reduction at the end of one week, or one pound. Reducing your calories by a greater amount will result in a faster weight loss, but that will be difficult to maintain. Keep your calorie reduction to 500 and add exercise to burn more calories each day. One or two pounds of loss per week is a healthy rate.
  
  Gaining weight works the same way. Add 500 calories every day to gain one pound of weight each week. Your daily activity will affect the amount of weight you gain. If you find that you are not gaining weight, add more healthy calories to your diet. Although it's easy to add high-calorie junk foods to gain weight, you should instead consume nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains to properly nourish your body.
  
  Adjust your diet accordingly to lose or gain weight, but always consume the healthiest foods for the functioning of your body.
  
  

Variety

• The USDA Dietary Guidelines suggest eating foods from all of the food groups to maintain good health while dieting. A diet can become boring very quickly if you eat the same foods every day. Good variety in your diet can help you stay on track longer and realize your weight-management goals.
  
  You can use the USDA Food Pyramid to make sure you are eating the correct number of servings of each food group. A weight-loss or weight- gain diet can become a healthy lifestyle change by making better choices and keeping your meals interesting with plenty of variety.