Broken down into the simplest form, weight loss involves eating less calories than the calories your body uses each day.  Most people that have had weight loss and successfully kept the weight off keep a written record of what they eat.

The bad news is that 1 pound is equal to about 3500 calories. 

The good news is that if you want to lose one pound a week, you will need to reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories.  Consult the chart below for other weights.

 

Amount of weight to lose per week	Reduce daily calories by this much
1/2 pound per week	250 calories
1 pound	500 calories
1-1/2 pounds	750 calories
2 pounds	1000 calories

To figure out how many calories you can eat a day and maintain your weight, follow this simple formula:

Non-active to low amounts of exercise:
Your weight X 10= Amount of calories to maintain your weight

i.e. You weigh 150 pounds and you don't exercise hardly at all.  You would need 1500 calories to stay at your current weight.

Moderate to high amounts of exercise:

Your weight X 20=Amount of calories to maintain your weight

i.e. You weigh 150 pounds and you exercise regularly.  You would need 3000 calories to stay at your current weight.

As you can see, if you simply add some form of exercise and stay within the calories to maintain your weight, you will automatically lose weight.  For example if you go walking for 45 minutes at a 15 minute pace, you will burn 219 calories.  These calories can then be deducted from your total calories for that day.