One way that you can come to lose weight quickly is to calorie count. What does this mean for you? This means that you keep a careful count of how many calories you consume, every day, in order to make sure that you don't take in more calories than you burn off.

To lose weight quickly, and to keep it off both for the short term and the long term, it is important too calorie count, as well as to exercise regularly and to eat a diet that is low in saturated fat.

The best part about calorie counting is that it can be done by anyone. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, where you live, or whether or not you wish to lose weight quickly or have plenty of time to devote to losing it.

The concept behind calorie counting is that you can eat whatever you choose, but you have to make sure that you exercise sufficiently to get rid of those calories. Your energy output must be greater than your food input. You are not allowed to have any extra calories hanging around that can easily turn to fat! It stands to reason then that calorie counting must be accompanied by consistent exercise.

Calorie counting forces you to take a closer look at the foods you consume on a daily basis. You also will become acquainted with the quantity of calories each food contains. This is something that might be very surprising for you. It can be a real eye opener but will lead to you becoming more conscientious. Another important consideration when it comes to the idea of how to lose weight quickly is you need to learn how many calories you need in order to function at your best.

How do you begin to calorie count your way to a slimmer, and more toned physique? To start, you first need to figure out how many calories you require to maintain a stable and healthy weight. For both sexes there is a general guideline to go by. For example, females require approximately 2000 calories on a daily basis while males require more (an estimated 2500 calories per day). Keep in mind that other important considerations are your build, your height, and how much muscle you have on your body when you first start the calorie counting plan.

Once you have this figured out, you can then devise a plan that is appropriate for you. Let's look at a concrete example of this:

If you take in less than 500 calories of what you require on a daily basis, then your weight loss will be roughly one pound a week. If you increase this to bringing in less than 1,000 calories then you will lose an average of two pounds weekly. Sound good?

If you still confused then look at below diagrams:

Above example shows that a person takes in 3000 calories per day, and consumes 2500 calories per day. (3000 - 2500 = 500), so you can see that there are 500 calories that are taken in but NOT used by the body. These calories are what cause you to gain weight.

Now above example shows that a person is maintaining weight. He/She is consuming 2500 calories per day, and burning 2500 per day. This means every calorie they consume is being burned. This is what causes a person's weight to stay exactly the same.

Above example shows (our aim) a person who will lose weight. They consume 2000 calories per day, and burn 2500. As you can see, they are burning 500 more calories than they are consuming. This calorie deficit is what causes weight loss.

Why does this work so well? If you want to lose weight quickly, then you want to consume fewer calories, than you need to, in order that your body will then need to turn to your fat stores to make up the difference.