Now here’s a topic people seem to be absolutely obsessed with… the ideal weight loss rate per week. Meaning, how fast should you lose weight?

And it’s pretty obvious why people are so interested in getting this question answered. Quite simply, knowing how slow or fast you should lose weight will allow you to estimate when you can expect to finally reach your goal and have the body you want.

People are super obsessed with reaching that point (especially early on), so it would only make sense that they’d be obsessed with figuring out when they will finally be there.

So, let’s answer that question right now.

To do this, I want to take a look at the two recommendations I give most often when it comes to the ideal weight loss rate per week…

Recommendation #1: Lose a pound per week.

This right here is the most basic and common weight loss speed recommendation you will see. Losing 1 pound per week is basically the textbook definition of safe, simple and healthy weight loss.

It’s not too slow (which is discouraging) and it’s not too fast (which is unnecessarily hard and potentially dangerous). This is right smack in the middle, which seems to be just right for most people.

In addition to being the most commonly recommended weight loss rate per week, it’s also the most generic. It really doesn’t take any outside factors into account at all (like you, your body, your preferences, your situation, how much weight you need to lose, etc.).

It’s just a solid universal recommendation for how fast the average person should lose weight. I like it.

However, despite the fact that I do like it and I have given this exact recommendation countless times before, it’s no longer the first recommendation I give. This is…

Recommendation #2: It depends on you, your preferences, and the amount of weight you need to lose.

That’s right, I think your ideal weight loss rate per week should depend on you.

What I mean is, I think someone who has more weight to lose should lose it faster than someone who has less weight to lose, and vice-versa.

This makes sense for a ton of reasons. For example, people with more fat to lose are less likely to lose muscle due to the higher abundance of fat on their body. Therefore, they can handle losing weight faster without the same risk of muscle loss.

On the other hand, people who are leaner or just have less fat to lose are at a higher risk of losing muscle. Because of this they SHOULD have a slower rate of weight loss.

Plus, this also takes into account how easy or hard it will be. Meaning, it’s a lot easier for a person with 100lbs to lose to lose it faster than someone with 10lbs to lose. They should take advantage of that fact, especially early on.

Let me throw some numbers out there to show you exactly what I mean…

• A person with an above average amount of weight to lose (example: 100lbs) should lose it at a rate of 2lbs (or more) per week.
• A person with an average amount of weight to lose (example: 30lbs) should lose it at a rate of 1-2lbs per week.
• A person with a below average amount of weight to lose (example: 10lbs) should lose it at a rate of 0.5-1lb per week.

I explain these recommendations in much more detail (along with the best way of actually making them happen) in The Ultimate Fat Loss Program.

So, while the standard “lose a pound per week” recommendation is still a perfectly fine middle-of-the-road goal to aim for, I think how slow or fast a person loses weight should depend more on them and be a little more personalized based on the exact amount they need to lose.

Do you want to know how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight? If so, congrats. Asking about your daily calorie intake is something only a smart person who truly understands weight loss would do.

What I mean is, losing weight is literally ALL about eating the right total number of calories per day. Protein, fat and carbs are certainly important as well (as are the food sources of those nutrients), but above all else, your total daily calorie intake is the key factor in allowing you to lose weight.

So, let’s figure out what your ideal daily calorie intake should be. All it takes is two simple steps…

Step 1: Find Your Calorie Maintenance Level

Fat loss basically works like this…

There is a certain number of calories that each person needs to eat per day in order to maintain their current weight. This is what’s known as your calorie maintenance level. To lose weight, all you need to do is eat less calories per day than your “maintenance” amount.

Doing so creates a caloric deficit, and this causes your body to burn your own stored body fat for energy instead.

This is of course the scientifically proven fact that The Lose Weight Diet (and any other intelligent diet) is based on… just eating below your maintenance level on a daily basis.

So, that means that in order to answer the almighty question of how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight, you first need to figure out what your daily calorie maintenance level is.

This maintenance level amount is based on a ton of factors specific to you and your body.

These factors include:

• Weight
• Height
• Gender
• Age
• Activity Level
• And a whole host of factors that are purely genetic.

To get a pretty close estimate of what yours is, just use the quick and simple calorie maintenance level calculator I’ve included right here. Don’t forget to come back here for step 2 right after.

Step 2: Create The Deficit

Alright, half way done. Now that you have an estimate of how many calories you need to eat per day to MAINTAIN your current weight, it’s time to figure out the daily calorie intake that will allow you to LOSE weight.

Which means… it’s time to create the deficit.

To do this, just subtract 500 calories from your estimated daily calorie maintenance level.

So, for example, if your estimated maintenance level was 3000 calories, you’d now start eating 2500 calories per day. Simple as that.

Doing so should cause you to lose weight at a rate of about 1-2lbs per week, which of course is the ideal recommended rate for safe, healthy, effective (and permanent) weight loss.

To double check and make sure this is indeed the ideal calorie intake for you, just weigh yourself once per week (always first thing in the morning before eating or drinking) and keep track of what your weight does.

If you’re losing 1-2lbs per week, you’re perfect. If you’re losing more or less than that (or not losing anything at all), just add or subtract an additional 250 calories and see if you end up losing weight at the ideal rate over the next couple of weeks. If you are, perfect! If you’re not, keep adjusting like that until you are.

And then… that’s it. You’re done.

Now you know how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight.

If you have any questions, I just created a quick and simple new site that covers just this topic in a lot more detail. It’s here: How Many Calories A Day

I haven’t been blogging much lately, and there was a reason. It’s now finally time to share this reason with you guys.

After a whole lot of thinking, planning, designing, programming, fixing, changing, and even some real life actual money spent on a fantastic programmer, I am now happy to introduce to you… a Calorie Counter.

a Calorie Counter (aCalorieCounter.com) is my own version of all of the “calorie counter” type sites currently around. Type in the name of your food, hit search, and see that food’s complete nutrition facts instantly. See calories, protein, carbs, fat, sugar, sodium, cholesterol, vitamins, and a whole lot more. And, as if it even needed to be mentioned, a Calorie Counter is 100% free.

After years of using other similar sites to get the nutritional information of the foods I eat, I decided it was time to make my own better version. There’s no clutter, and there’s no nonsense. What there is though is what I am fairly certain may be the USDA Food Nutrient Database made available in the quickest and cleanest format it has ever been made available in before.

Think of a Calorie Counter as the equally literally named side-kick to The Lose Weight Diet. Use it, bookmark it, and then use it again. Tell your friends to use it. Tell your family to use it. Tell your pets to use it. Tell your pet’s friends and family to use it. If you have your own site or blog, feel free to link to it. If your pets have their own site or blog, tell them to link to it too. Basically… enjoy.

You may also notice that I’ve already written a bunch of articles for a Calorie Counter, all of which will most definitely be of interest to anyone who finds The Lose Weight Diet useful. So, be sure to check those out as well.

Other than that, let me know what you think. Like it? Hate it? Have any suggestions for something you’d like to see on there? Notice something not working correctly? Comments, feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. Just leave ’em in the comments of this post.

So um, go check it out already: a Calorie Counter

So, I don’t know how else to say this, but, food companies are lying to you. Yes, YOU. The really strange part is that they are actually allowed to lie to you… by law.

I’m not even joking. It’s plain old crazy.

The lying takes place on the nutrition facts label of whatever kind of box or package or container your food came in. You know, where the ingredients are listed, along with other nutritional information like how many calories or carbs there are per serving. All of that information is usually true and accurate. However, when you get to trans fat, that all changes.

First and foremost, for anyone who doesn’t know what trans fat is, let me give you a very quick and simple description. It’s one of the “bad” types of fat. In fact, trans fat is the baddest of them all, and that’s “horrible” bad, not “hip and cool” bad. How bad? Well, think of a health problem someone could have. Go ahead, any health problem. Got it? Ok. There is a very good chance that whatever you thought of is one of the many health problems and diseases caused by eating a diet high in trans fat.

See… bad.

But, most people are already aware of how terrible trans fat is for you. Most of these people became aware of this around January 1, 2006, which is the date that the FDA started requiring that trans fat content be included on the nutrition facts label of all foods. Yup, they meant business. Trans fat is borderline poison, and now we can feel safe knowing that all we need to do is take a peek at the nutrition facts label of our food to make sure we aren’t eating any of it.

Well, not quite. This is where the lying is happening.

See, there is a largely unknown loophole in the FDA’s trans fat requirement. Instead of telling you what this loophole is, I’ll let the FDA explain it for me. Here is a direct quote from a “question and answer” page on the official web site of the Food and Drug Administration.

Q: How will the nutrition label be different?

A: The FDA final rule on trans fatty acids (also called “trans fat”) requires that the amount of trans fat in a serving be listed on a separate line under saturated fat on the Nutrition Facts panel (see figure). However, trans fat does not have to be listed if the total fat in a food is less than 0.5 gram (or 1/2 gram) per serving and no claims are made about fat, fatty acids or cholesterol content.

Get all that? I bolded the important part for you. Basically, here’s what they’re saying. If a food has 1 gram of trans fat per serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 1 gram” on the nutrition facts label of that food. If that food has 0 grams of trans fat per serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on the label. However, if a food has exactly 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on the label.

Let that one sink in for a second. Food companies are allowed by law to tell you that there is “0 grams” of trans fat in the food you are eating even though there actually IS trans fat in that food. Insane, isn’t it?

So now, the food you eat will mention trans fat ONLY if there is more than 0.5 grams of it per serving. If there are 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, or 0.49999999 grams, it will still say there is no trans fat in the food. There’s really no other way to look at that… it’s a lie. Plain and simple.

There is of course an excuse for this insanity. The FDA claims that anything below 0.5 grams is considered a “very small amount” of trans fat. So, by that logic, if a certain amount of poison will kill me, I’ll be just fine consuming 0.4 grams since that would be a “very small amount” of poison. Mmmm, fantastic.

ANY trans fat is too much trans fat, no matter what the amount. It’s one of the worst possible things you can possibly put into your body. 0.4 grams, 0.5 grams, or 10 grams, I don’t care. I don’t want any of it, and anyone who cares at all about their health shouldn’t want ANY of it either. Unfortunately though, food companies are telling you that you aren’t eating any, even though you are.

Another key thing to keep in mind here is the term “serving size.” Food companies only need to report how much trans fat there is in one serving of there food. Did you ever pay attention to what “one serving” of most foods is? For example, for most cereals, one serving is usually 3/4 of a cup. Chances are there is at least double that amount in one average sized bowl of cereal. Another serving size might be “3 crackers.” How many people only eat exactly 3 crackers? Not many.

My point here is that most people eat more than “one serving” of most foods. And since trans fat only needs to be mentioned on food labels if there is 0.5 grams or more trans fat per serving, that means that if the food contained 0.4 grams, and you eat 4 servings of it, there’s 1.6 grams of trans fat. 1.6 is well above 0.5, yet the label will still only say 0 grams per serving. And, if you eat 4 servings of that food, 4 x 0 still equals 0 grams of trans fat. You continue to think you didn’t eat any, when in reality you ate 1.6 grams. How wonderful.

And don’t think food companies don’t take complete advantage of this loophole. I’m sure there are plenty of foods that are now purposely made with exactly 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving for the sole purpose of being allowed to put “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on their nutrition facts label. I’m also sure plenty of foods have seen a reduction in their serving size. If one serving used to be 1 full cup, and that contained 0.8 grams, all they need to do is change their serving size to half a cup, and the trans fat per serving drops down to magic number 0.4, which to them translates into “Trans Fat: 0 grams.”

Now that you fully understand this nonsense, let me show you how to spot it on your foods so you can avoid being tricked, and avoid eating that food. I actually mentioned this briefly when explaining another lie, 100% whole wheat bread. The key to finding out for sure if there is any trans fat in your food even when the label reads “Trans Fat: 0 grams” is by reading through the list of ingredients of that food.

The keywords you are looking for in those ingredients are “shortening” and the MUCH more common “hydrogenated.” If you see either of those words used in any way, there is trans fat in your food. Hydrogenated is used to describe an oil, as in “hydrongenated soybean oil” or “hydrogenated vegetable oil.” A lot of times it may use the words “partially hydrogenated.” As in, “partially hydrogenated soybean oil.” Partially hydrogenated or not, it’s still trans fat just the same.

Oh, and in case anyone thinks I’m making this stuff up, here’s another quote from the FDA web site:

Q: Is it possible for a food product to list the amount of trans fat as 0 g on the Nutrition Facts panel if the ingredient list indicates that it contains “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil?”

A: Yes. Food manufacturers are allowed to list amounts of trans fat with less than 0.5 gram (1/2 g) as 0 (zero) on the Nutrition Facts panel. As a result, consumers may see a few products that list 0 gram trans fat on the label, while the ingredient list will have “shortening” or “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” on it. This means the food contains very small amounts (less than 0.5 g) of trans fat per serving.

How lovely.

If any of those words I mentioned above make an appearance in your food’s ingredient list, then it contains some amount of trans fat.

So, there you go. You’ll still be lied to about the trans fat in your food, only now you’ll be able to catch it and avoid it.

It was 1999 when I first made any effort to learn about any aspect of weight loss, nutrition, exercise and really just diet and fitness in general. Since that time, I’ve heard/read/seen some REALLY dumb things. Here now is one of those things…

Dumb Weight Loss Thing #8,304:

That you can workout at your desk.

Seriously, how many “5 simple exercises you can do while sitting at your desk at work” articles can one human being read before they never want to read ANY article of ANY kind EVER again.

Yes, I know that a lot of the people who want to lose weight and get in shape happen to spend most of their days sitting in a chair in an office and are just looking to make the best of this situation. I understand.

But, come on… “20 butt clenches” every half hour is not going to make any real significant difference. In fact, it’s not even going to make half of a real significant difference. In fact, the only real difference “20 butt clenches” will make is causing your co-workers to think you may have crapped your pants.

If you really want to make something real happen, make time for a real workout routine. None of the exercises I’ve seen in any of these crazy “how to exercise at your desk” articles are enough to make anything happen. Something as simple as going to bed at 10:30 instead of 11:00 and then waking up 6:00 instead of 6:30 is all it takes to get a REALLY REAL 30 minute workout in before you even get to work.

If you sit down and think about it and make a real effort, there are probably a dozen (or a few dozen) other ways you can rearrange your own personal daily/weekly schedule that will allow you to make time for real workouts. Whether it’s at a gym, inside your house, or just walking/jogging around your block… EVERYONE can make time for at least 3 or 4 real workouts a week.

Anyone who claims they can’t just isn’t trying hard enough. To you people, I have this message… we will all be laughing at you when you do your butt clenches.

This has been Dumb Weight Loss Thing #8,304.