Conceptually, weight loss is an easy idea. Take in less calories than we expend. From there, the wheels tend to come off.

Anyone (or anything) that can tell you they know exactly how many calories you burn in any activity is flat-out lying to you. The best anyone can do is make an educated guessed based on the “average” person – however you define that. Current weight, muscle mass, metabolism, and how hard you are working all get factored in.

So, the only thing we can REALLY do is count our intake. The National Weight Control Registry shows that individuals that manage to lose 30+ pounds and keep it off 5+ years eat between 1400 and 1800 calories per day. That is a tried and true model for success, so I think it’s a good one to work from. (NOTE: They also exercise an hour a day – it’s not ALL about the food.)

My favorite iPhone app for tracking calories is an application called Lose It!

• It’s Free
• It allows you to save your meals so you can easily repeat from day to day
• It allows you to create your own foods
• It lets you choose what nutrients you want to track (I like to track my protein)
• It has a fantastic food database. I’m super-impressed with the food database
• It remembers the portion size you last used with that food
• It lets you enter your weight and weight loss goals and helps you determine your daily caloric target (which you can also override)

It also lets you enter your exercise, but I have to admit, I have yet to use that feature.

P.S. If you really can’t live without a number to put to your training session, you can assume 400 cals for good, solid hour of work. Yep, that’s it.