Calorie restricted diets have been around for as long as people have tried to lose weight. Our bodies are designed to pump blood, breathe, move, and more without conscious thought on our part. To make it happen, our bodies need fuel or energy which is supplied by the food we eat and drink. This energy is measured in calories. If we take in more calories than we burn, our bodies gain weight. If we burn what we eat but no more, we maintain our current weight, and if we burn more calories than we take in, we will lose weight. This is the premise behind a calorie restricted diet.
Benefits of Calorie Restriction
One benefit to following a calorie restricted diets it that they are easily altered for special needs such as a diabetic diet, gluten free diets, and any number of other diets for health conditions. The key is to know how many calories you should eat to accomplish your health goal. To lose weight, you'll restrict calories. .A very low calorie diet would be 800 calories a day (not recommended), while the popular 1200 Calorie Diet is often used by doctors to help obese patients drop unwanted pounds. However, 1200 is not the right number for everyone. Each person's physical makeup requires calories based on size, activity level and age.
A woman in her 20s who is 5' 3" will require more calories than a woman 5' 3" and in her 40s. That's because along with age comes hormonal changes and differences in activity levels. And while 1400 calories may work great for the woman who is 5' 3" someone of the same age who is a foot taller will require more calories just because they are taller. They can easily eat 1700, 1800 or even 2000 calories a day and still lose weight. All these factors play a role in calorie based diet plans that restrict calorie intake to achieve weight loss.