To lose one kilo of fat, you must burn approximately 7200 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That sounds like a lot of calories does it not? You cannot burn even half a kilo in a day – 3600 calories is also quite a lot. However, every journey starts with a small step. So by taking it step-by-step, you can determine just what you need to do each day to burn or cut out those extra calories. Here try these steps:

1.    Calculate your basal metabolic rate. This is what your body needs to maintain normal functions like breathing, eating, watching television, and other day to day activities including digestion. This is the minimum number of calories you need to eat each day. There are many calculators (please use Google to find the BMR calculator). Calculators are generic and may not be very accurate, but it is a great place to start.

2.    Calculate your activity level. Google help! There are calorie calculators on the web which allow you to calculate how many calories you burn while sitting, standing, working out, walking, moving around, exercising, etc. during the day. If you are very serious you could get a heart monitor (joking) – just maintain a journal of your activities. If there are too many activities you will need a note book – excel does the job just as well.
3.    Maintain a food Journal: Just as there are websites which allow you to calculate your activity level, there are websites like Calorie Count, Fitday, etc. which allows you to calculate your daily intake and analyses it for you. However these are American sites and is not very friendly to ‘samosa’ ‘goolab jamuns’ and the like! You can use a simple 200 page note book in which you can write down what you eat and drink each day. Be as accurate as possible, and be careful while eating out!
4.    Now, the mathematics! Take your BMR number, add your activity calories and then subtract your food calories from that total. If you’re eating more than you’re burning, (your BMR + activity is 2000 and you’re eating 2400 calories) you’ll gain weight. If you’re burning more than you eat, you’ll lose weight.

Oh My God, it sounds so simple! Well good health like good investing is boring but do-able.