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Calories ^NEW

Calories do count – they are the bottom line when it comes to fat loss. If you are eating more calories than you expend, you simply will not lose fat, no matter what type of foods or food combinations you eat. Some foods do get stored as fat more easily than others. But keep in mind that too much of anything, even "healthy food," will get stored as fat. You cannot override the laws of thermodynamics and energy balance.
The first step in customizing a nutrition plan to your needs is to calculate how many calories you burn in a day. Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories that your body expends in 24 hours, including all activities of daily living. TDEE is also known as your "maintenance level," the number of daily calories you need to maintain your current weight.

The next step is to adjust your calories according to your primary goal. The mathematics of calorie balance are simple: To keep your weight at its current level, you should remain at your daily caloric maintenance level. To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit by reducing your calories slightly below your maintenance level (or keeping your calories the same and increasing your activity above your current level). To gain weight, you need to increase your calories above your maintenance level. 

You must be in a calorie deficit to burn fat. This will force your body to use stored body fat to make up for the energy deficit. There are 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. If you create a 3500-calorie deficit in a week (500 calories a day) through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound. If you create a 7000-calorie deficit in a week, you will lose two pounds. The calorie deficit can be created through diet or exercise, or preferably a combination of both. 

It is well known that cutting calories too much slows down the metabolic rate, decreases thyroid output, and causes loss of lean muscle mass. So the question is: How much of a deficit do you need? There is definitely a specific cutoff or threshold where further reductions in calories will have detrimental effects. The most common guideline for calorie deficits for fat loss is to reduce your total calories by approximately 500 a day; this is both safe and effective in the long run. A larger deficit may be necessary in some cases, but the best approach is to keep the calorie deficit small while increasing activity level.

Example 1:

Your weight is 120 lbs.
Your TDEE is 2033 calories.
Your calorie deficit for losing weight (fat) is 500 calories.
Your Recommended Calories per Day for fat loss is 2033 – 500 = 1533 calories

It is not advisable to make drastic changes to your diet. After calculating your TDEE and adjusting it according to your goal, if the amount is substantially higher or lower than your current intake, then you should adjust your calories gradually. For example, if you determine that your optimal caloric intake is 1900 calories per day, but you have only been eating 1200 calories per day, your metabolism may be sluggish. An immediate jump to 1900 calories per day might actually cause a fat gain because your body has adapted to a lower caloric intake and the sudden jump up would create a surplus.