Home > Diet & Fitness > Weight watching > Weight loss guidelines GA_googleFillSlot("sitagitarectanletop"); To reach your goal, you will have to adjust food intake gradually to make lifetime changes. You will also have to reduce fat intake on a daily basis. Increase your knowledge of the calorie content of foods and of calorie expenditure of various physical activities.

For weight loss to be successful, following is a summary of the basic guidelines:

1. Aerobic physical activity will assist in increasing muscle tissue and also in burning calories.
2. Gradual changes in eating habits will encourage a permanent lifestyle changes.
3. A slow weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds a week, until the desirable body weight is reached, is the best method.
4. For a 1 or 2 pound weight loss per week, a daily intake of 500 to 1,000 calories less than the usual food intake will result in safe weight loss.
   
   An easy way to determine your own desirable body weight is to use the following formula:
   
   
5. Women: 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, 5 pounds for each additional inch; using this formula, the desirable body weight can be calculated.
6. Men: 106 pounds of body weight for the first 5 feet of height, 6 pounds for each additional inch.
7. 10% of the standard desirable body weight should be subtracted for a small body frame; 10% of the standard desirable body weight should be added for a large frame.