BOTTOM LINE

Okay, girls, the BOTTOM LINE is that you need to BURN MORE CALORIES THAN YOU CONSUME. This will naturally take care of your weight and %body fat…it’s more like a PROCESS (eating right, exercising, feeling good) than just a NUMBER (weight, %body fat). So, go to [http://moritzcycling.com/eer.cgi] and figure out your Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) and put ‘sedentary’ for your physical activity. Then hit ‘Calculate’.

So, for example, my EER is 1725, so that’s how many calories it takes to just sit around and do my daily activities…I eat 1800 calories per day so I’m about even on my in-take and out-take. Now I add exercise to that, say a swim, which burns 550 cal/hour. My total intake on calories would be 1800 (food) and my out-take was 2250 (1725 what I burned (EER) and 550 what I exercised). Now, I am BURNING MORE CALORIES THAN I CONSUMED. Make sense? Good luck!!

P.S. This website explains the EER a bit more:
http://www.princetonlivingwell.com/calculators/eer.aspx