Diet, Confirming Your First

 

When you click OK after typing in your goals, Diet Power calculates a calorie budget and asks you to confirm it. To calculate the budget, the program:

 

1. estimates your metabolic rate¾the daily calories needed to maintain your current weight. Your metabolic rate depends on your age, sex, and current body weight, and can range from under 1000 calories for a very small, elderly woman to more than 4000 for a severely overweight young man.

 

2. multiplies the number of pounds you want to gain or lose by 3500¾because a pound of body fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. This yields the calorie excess you must accumulate over the course of a weight-gain diet or the calorie deficit you must accumulate during a weight-loss diet.

 

3. divides this total excess or deficit by the number of days in the diet. This reveals how many calories per day you must add or give up in order to reach your goal on schedule.

 

4. adds or subtracts the daily excess from your metabolic rate. The result is your daily calorie budget.

 

After you've started the diet, your calorie budget will probably change. Reason: Each time you log your weight, Diet Power calculates your true metabolic rate by comparing your weight history with your eating and exercise history. Then it bumps your budget up or down a few points to keep you tracking smoothly toward your goal. Your true metabolic rate may range as much as 20 percent above or below the norm.

 

To confirm your budget¼

 

¼click the OK button. Diet Power will save the particulars and take you to the next step.

 

To revise the budget¼

 

¼click the Go Back button. Diet Power will return you to the Goals page, where you can revise your target date or goal weight.

 

If you're not sure¼

 

¼go ahead and click OK¾you can always revise your goals later.