Making the decision to lose weight through dieting is only half the battle. For the rest, you need to choose how many calories to eat each day to get to your goal weight and pick the meals that you'll need to eat to stay around that calorie count.
Since the average person needs to eat around 2,000 calories per day in order to maintain their current weight, cutting that down to1,500 calories will indeed help you lose weight. However, there's a bit more involved than just eating less – you also need to eat healthily as well.
How Cutting Calories Leads to Weight Loss
In a perfect world, you would automatically burn off the calories you eat every day, leaving your body at your ideal goal weight. Unfortunately, it's far too easy to eat more calories than you need, resulting in weight gain.
This means that to lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn off through exercise or just by going about your daily life. While you still need to eat enough to remain healthy, cutting back based on your total daily energy expenditure is recommended when you want to lose weight.
Determining Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
Your TDEE depends on a number of factors, including how much you move each day, whether you are male or female, and your age.
Your TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure, is the number of calories you burn daily simply by living your life. While this number can help you determine how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, it can fluctuate a bit from person to person, based on your overall metabolism.
This means that not everyone who shares the same characteristics has the same TDEE. Your metabolism may be a bit faster or slower. With that said, your TDEE is a good baseline to start with.
Two equations are used to calculate your TDEE. One is for men, the other for women. Both help you reach a baseline number of how many calories you should be eating every day.
Calculating The Numbers
- For men, the calculation is: 10 times (your weight in kilograms) plus 6.25 times (your height in centimeters) minus 5 times (your age) plus 5
- For women, it's: 10 times (your weight in kilograms) plus 6.25 times (your height in centimeters) minus 5 times (your age) minus 161
After you do those calculations, the next step involves multiplying your result against your activity factor. There are five potential levels of activity. They are:
- Sedentary – You don't move around much and don't really exercise = multiply by 1.2
- Lightly Active – You do light exercises, but for less than three days each week = multiply by 1.375
- Moderately Active – You exercise most days of the week, but in a moderate manner = multiply by 1.55
- Very Active – You do hard exercise every single day of the week = multiply by 1.725
- Extra Active – You perform strenuous exercises more than twice every single day of the week = multiply by 1.9
Once you know your total TDEE, it's time to figure out how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. In this case, the focus is on 1,500 calories per day, which works well for people who are either sedentary, lightly active, or moderately active.
What You Should Eat
Not only do you need to cut back on the number of calories you eat so that it hovers around 1,500 per day, but you also need to keep an eye onwhat you're eating, as well as cut out foods that are bad for you. Here are some general categories to stick to:
Vegetables
Vegetables fall into two different categories, either starchy or non-starchy. Both are good for you. Those considered starchy are mostly root vegetables, like carrots, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, parsnips, butternut squash, and even peas and plantains.
Non-starchy vegetables include lettuce, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes (although technically a fruit), broccoli, spinach, kale, peppers, cauliflower, and more.
You can also mix in aromatics like onion and garlic.
All vegetables contain plenty of nutrients, including the vitamins and minerals that you need to stay healthy. Plus, they're low in calories, making them a great addition to your diet all around.
Fruit
Although fruits have plenty of natural sugars, many also contain quite a bit of vitamin C and other essentials, so they're very good for you. In addition, if you crave something sweet, it's better to reach for a bowl of strawberries or melon than candy or prepackaged snack cake, both of which are loaded with sugar and calories.
Looking for suggestions? Consider adding these fruits to your diet:
- Apples
- Oranges
- Pears
- Bananas
- Berries like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries
- Grapes
- Melon
Mushrooms
Mushrooms might look small, but they contain plenty of protein and are light on calories. They're also extremely versatile and can be added to cooked meals or eaten raw, like in a salad.
Protein
You'll need to include meat or meat substitutes in your diet. Options include lean white meat, like chicken and turkey, as well as grass-fed or organic bison or beef. Lamb is another good option.
Fish and seafood, like shrimp, clams, and salmon, are also good sources of protein. As far as meat substitutes are concerned, include some tofu, soy, or tempeh into your meals to ensure that you get enough protein.
Dairy Products
Although you might still believe the somewhat old-fashioned notion that dairy is bad for you, recent studies have discovered the opposite. Reach for whole milk, full-fat cheeses, eggs (technically in a category of their own), yogurt, and even kefir can all be added to your daily 1,500-calorie diet plan.
Legumes
Don't forget the legumes! A great side dish for your lunch or dinner, these foods are very good for you. Foods that fall into this group include various types of beans (kidney beans, navy beans, black beans, pinto beans, and so on) as well as lentils and chickpeas. Not only do they taste good, but they're also extremely versatile.
You can also include legume-based products like hummus alongside baby carrots or slices of pepper.
Whole Grain Foods
As long as you aren't on a gluten-free, gluten-limited, or keto diet, you can add whole grain foods to your pantry.
Looking for ideas? Whole grain noodles, breads, cereals, and more are viable options in your meals. Oatmeal (as long as it isn't pre-sweetened or seasoned), and various types of rice, like brown rice or basmati, are all good for you. You can also try grains like quinoa and farro.
Just avoid things like white rice (overly processed) and white bread.
Healthy Fats and Other Options
Of course, you'll need some way to cook your food. This is where healthy fats come into play. Consider using extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil instead of butter when sautéing your food. Avocados themselves are a very healthy fat, and they can become a snack all on their own.
Other foods to consider include nut butters (almond butter and organic or all-natural peanut butter) and nuts and seeds that make great snacks, such as sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, and almonds.
Beverages
Yes, you might have to give up your daily glass or bottle of soda, but there are plenty of other options, such as coffee, tea, water, and even all-natural fruit juices. All of these will keep you well hydrated and help you keep your calorie count down.
Try to avoid those fancy coffee drinks that include chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and many other sugary additions.
Tracking Your Meals, Calories, and Exercise
In order to stay on your diet, you need to track the number of calories that you eat every day, as well as the foods. There are plenty of apps that allow you to input your1,500 calorie goal and have general nutrition measurements for foods that you eat all of the time. You might even be able to inputyour own meals using your ingredients and get a listing that shows all of those macros and micros.
Apps that also allow you to track your exercise and the number of calories burned are also helpful since you can watch your progress. After all, there's nothing quite like a good tracking system to see where you've been and where you're at on your weight loss journey!
Sources:
A 1,500 Calorie Diet: Food Lists, Meal Plan, and More | Healthline
7-Day Meal Plan For Losing Weight: 1,500 Calories | Eating Well
Your 3-Day Heart Healthy Meal Plan: 1,500 Calories | The Cleveland Clinic