Never mind what the so-called weight loss gurus say, there is only one true formula for lasting weight loss.
Simply stated, you must burn more calories than you consume. Once you understand the mathematics behind that statement you will be well on your way to achieving your weight loss goals.
Here is the formula:
First, you will need to determine your basal metabolic rate. Your basal metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns just keeping you alive. That's right; your body is busy burning calories even when you don't go to the gym. There are a number of free online calculators available for you to determine this. For illustration purposes, say you are a female, 24 years old, 5'8" and 145 pounds. Your basal metabolic rate would be 1459 calories a day.
Second, you will need to calculate the number of active calories you burn. These are the calories that come off with exercise. For this example, we will use the number 900.
Last but not least, you will need to determine the number of calories you are consuming. Again, for illustration purposes, let's assume you ate a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, had a hamburger with fries for lunch, and ate a bowl of soup for dinner. Once you add a couple of drinks throughout the day, you've easily consumed 2000 calories.




Here is the bottom line. For every pound you want to lose, you will need to burn 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities.
The math looks like this: Our female burns 2359 calories a day (basal metabolic rate plus active calories burned) and consumes 2000-meaning, she burns 359 more calories per day than she consumes. If she continues at this rate it will take her approximately 10 days to lose one pound (359 X 10 = 3590). There is no magic involved.