I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating. Every day if necessary 
There is but one magical formula in dieting, that being:
calories in – calories out = weight lost or gained
So … calories in is food, calories out is exercise plus the calories you burn with your BMR, or basal metabolic rate. This rate is calculated based on your age, gender, and typical activity level at its simplest. It is often expressed as the number of calories your body requires to maintain your body weight without any additional physical activity.
The bottom line is that you need to know that number (Google for BMR and AMR, the active metabolic rate) and once you do, you can choose a calorie count per day to target for your weight management goals. In my case, I target a minimum per day of –500 calories, and I generally exceed that by a bit. Sometimes by a lot. If I exercise, I either take the excess weight loss, or I compensate with larger meals later. If you do some physical activity, don’t starve your body automatically. You should usually feed it when you are ravenous. But control the amount you eat to respect the formula.
This is my first half of March from http://caloriecount.com …
That is a steady 3 pound loss according to the green trend line. The actual line is all over the place because I’ve eaten out three or four times, with Fatboys burger and mashed, Scores club sandwich and (gack!) fries, Pho (the saltiest soup ever), and maybe once more than I cannot remember. In addition, I’ve eaten frozen yogurt 4 or 5 times and several of those Smart Pop bowls of popcorn for 220cals.
Yes the loss remains fairly steady. And the reason is because I respect the formula. If you can say that you do not cheat, then you can guarantee at least some progress.
Here is my current analysis chart:
March coincidentally starts on the great cheat day, where that red spike is. I went to a movie and then went out to dinner. That was my club sandwich day at Scores and it included a soup and mashed and the club was enormous. I had trouble finishing it, but in for a penny, in for a pound (pun intended.)
But I only missed by a very small amount because I ate light that day and finished the day off with a very light snack later on. That’s how it’s gotta be for it to work.
So from the red spike onwards, that’s a 3 pound loss in action.
YMMV, but I hope not …
