Remember, 3500 calories = 1 pound of body fat. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends losing no more than 1-2 lbs of body weight per week. That's a 3500 - 7000 calorie deficit per week. Ex/ if you cut 350 calories per day (350 cal deficit), you'll lose 1 lb in 10 days. What we recommend (exercise physiologists), is setting a weight loss goal (ex 10 lbs), X 3500 = total number of calories needed to expend= 35000. 35000 calories in 10 weeks (example) = 3500 cal/week = 1 lb per/week. 3500 cal in 7 days = 500 calories per day. Cut 250 out of your normal diet, expend the other 250 in exercise. You have a deficit of 500/day, 3500 per week, and you'll lose 1 lb per week. Hope this helped. Oh--and stay away from fad diets (hollywood diet, thermospeed, metabolife, etc). If you have a heavy frame, like me I use to be a powerlifter, stay away from weights. They will just keep you heavy. Trust me. Try the Navy Seal workout. It's all over the internet--you'll find it. It's all running, swimming, pushups, pullups, dips and abdominal work. It's awesome. 50-65% of your diet should be carbohydrate. It is what your body wants to use as energy. Extra protein will not make you ripped. Get adequate protein to maintain and rebuild muscle (1 gm per kg bodyweight, contrary to what bodybuilders will tell you) Extra protein will store as fat, as will anything extra (fat, carbs or protein). If you are running a lot, a high protein diet will hurt you. Your body can only use 10-15 % of the protein it consumes as energy to do work. It actually raises your body temp because it requires so much of your system to digest it and convert it to glucose to use as energy. Fat is the best energy source, but because it is high calorie, it may be too good (9 cal per gram as opposed to 4 cal per gram for carb and protein). Fat is used as energy only after about 20 minutes of continuous exercise (ex/ during an average run, the first 17-22 minutes your body uses glucose or stored carbs called glycogen, then switches to fat for energy) Fat is energy for submax exercise. It does not fuel exercise like sprints or weightlifting. It kicks in for endurance exercise. Alcohol has 7 cal per gram and is biochemically digested like fat. Stay away from it all together if you are trying to lose weight. I was an Exercise Science mjr in college, so this stuff is my thing. Hope this helped.
Lt Williamson