Compiled by Jacob David

To keep in peak health, it is absolutely necessary that you watch your calorie intake combined with exercise. Doctors recommend 30 minutes of walking or brisk walking to get the blood flowing and heart pumping. Walking outdoors is more fun and invigorating than on a treadmill indoors. You could also play games that involve running, hand eye coordination and body movements to keep yourself active.

It is essential for each person to watch their calorie intake carefully each day. Once you get the math down, eating an average amount (based on servings) will help you watch your calorie intake. For example 12 potato chips give you 160 calories. Calories measure the body energy you get from each item of food.

To calculate your calorie consumption, do this simple formula:

1. Take your current weight in pounds and divide it into kilograms by dividing it by 2.2
2. Multiply that number by .9 for a new total.
3. Then multiply this total by 24
4. Take that number and apply one of the following to it:
   1. Multiply it by 1.3 if you sit all day at work and do no exercise at all
   2. Multiply it by 1.5 if you sit all day and do exercise 1 to 3 hours a week
   3. Multiply it by 1.7 if you do a manual job if you exercise you a lot.

For example: If Mary is 145 pounds (145 / 2.2 =  65.9 kilograms) then 65.9 x 0.9 = 59.31 x24 = 1423.44.  Mary works in an office and does not exercise so we multiply 1423.44 by 1.3. Now we know that Mary consumes 1850 calories per day to stay at 145 pounds.

If Mary wants to lose 1 pound a week, she needs to cut 3,500 calories a week from her diet. Mary cuts her calorie intake by 25% and will now consume 1,388 calories a day. In one week she will lose just under one pound. Now if Mary exercised 1 to 3 hours a week, she would need to consume 2,082 calories to maintain that weight. She cuts that figure by 25% and now consumes 1,562 calories a day to lose well over one pound in a week. With exercise, she eats more food and lose more weight.

To maintain good health, we should not drop our intake to more than 500 to 1000 calories a day depending on our current weight. Always consult your doctor before doing any exercise regimen based on your body’s abilities.

Portion Control: The human stomach can hold about 8 to 10 oz to be comfortably filled. Today, people eat twice that or three times that amount at an All you can Eat Buffet. Between meals, it would do good to drink about 4 glasses of  8 to 10 oz. water. That would be about 8 glasses a day. On cold winter days, there is not much perspiration. So water intake can be cut to 5 or 6 glasses a day.

It would be interesting to note what you eat on a daily basis is you can make a chart with your calorie intake for each food item you eat.

	Protein  Cal.	Fat      Cal.	Grain/Starch Carbs     Cal	Fruit / Veg. Cal.	Total Calories
Breakfast	2 eggs     150 Milk         80	1tbsp Butter      100	1 slice     70 Wheat Toast	Orange  62	462
Snack				Banana  109	109
Lunch	2 slices Bacon      72	2 tbsp       36 Ranch Dressing	Pita          140 Whl Wheat	2 cups      24 Spinach Salad Tomato    26	298
Snack			Popcorn (Light)     60		60
Dinner	Tilapia      91	Olive Oil ½ tbsp Sour Cream 1 tbsp	1 baked Potato      124	Asparagus ½ cup      22	318
Total Calories	393	217	394	243	1247

Number of glasses of water   Date: Month 4, 20 __

x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x