But if you’re relying on these calculators for anything more than an anecdotal number, you might end up following some very bad advice.

Not all calculator tools are the same
Not all calorie, BMI or ideal body weight calculators use the same formula to come up with their numbers, so one can be very different from the next. As well, some calculators take more variables into account than others. But just because a website’s calculator is more in-depth doesn’t make it any more accurate.

Don’t blindly trust the results
Know your body. If something that’s recommended sounds too extreme get a second opinion from your doctor, which you should be doing anyways if you’re starting a weight loss program. At the very least you should see what other calculators come up with, because as I’ve found firsthand no two will be the same.

The advice you get can vary widely
I checked out a few calculators to find out my BMI and my daily caloric needs to maintain my current weight. It’s a good thing I didn’t seek out this kind of advice when I was starting my fitness journey.

In order to maintain my current weight with my moderate activity level (I can’t be considered very active because of my sedentary job and the fact that I don’t exercise every day) they tell me I need to consume either 1,300, 1,815 or 1,909 calories per day. That’s a pretty big difference. Trying to maintain my weight by following the lower guideline and I would end up losing about a pound of week (if the higher one was actually correct).

What makes it worse is I doubt my calorie intake falls anywhere within that range. If I do a quick total of what I eat in one day I come up with a number closer to 2,000. Only one calorie calculator I used hit that target.

As for my basal metabolic rate (BMR) the number that comes up most often is around 1,300, which means I need to consume that many calories just so my vital organs can function. The Discovery Health site’s calculator agrees so I assume it’s a safe number.

Some results can be dangerous
Now here’s where it gets sketchy. Many of these calculators are used for the purpose of deciding how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. But since they can’t even get the numbers right when it comes to maintaining weight, imagine how far off they could be when it comes to losing weight. When I put in the weight I was at a year ago they calculated that I’d need to eat between 1,100 and 1,466 to lose weight. Plus a number of them mentioned adding exercise without changing caloric intake.

Well, I did lose weight, and I did it by eating better, doing cardio and strength training but there’s no way I would have starved myself like these tools suggested. My one pound or less a week came off the healthy way, which is why I’m feeling pretty good about my chances of maintaining it. Listening to bad advice could cause your body to work against you and conserve instead of expend calories, making the weight loss process more difficult than it has to be.

It’s no secret I mistrust the weight loss plans found in many health and fitness magazines. I feel they don’t take into account all aspects of how our bodies burn calories and that they end up sending readers off in pursuit off what amounts to a starvation diet.

I used one example in the article Do Magazine Diets Sabotage Weight Loss?, in which women were instructed to consume 1,400 calories per day while getting regular exercise. After all factors are accounted for, women following this diet are left with only 500 to 800 calories to fuel their vital organs (the number of calories required to do this is known as BMR), much less than they need. Is it just me or does this plan sound unhealthy, even for a women with a low BMR of 1,200.

The reason so few calories would be left over is that about 140 would be burned off through digestion, 400 through exercise and several hundred more through non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is the remainder of the movements we make throughout the day. Many diet plans don’t seem to take into account the combined effects of diet and exercise.

Will you still lose weight?
Some of you are probably thinking, who cares if it’s healthy, at least I’ll lose the weight. But that might not be entirely true. When our bodies aren’t getting enough calories they start conserving and metabolism slows. It’s that very same ability that kept our ancestors alive in times of famine. When your body thinks food is scarce it begins to store more calories as fat.

So while you may think restricting calories to the extreme will help you meet your goals it can actually do the opposite. When you finally give up on these impossible diet plans, as most people do, your body won’t automatically go back to burning the amount of calories it did before you started, but chances are you’ll go back to eating the same amount of food. This is the reason people quit diets and end up weighing more than before they started.

Calorie restriction causes a loss of lean muscle tissue, which is one reason your metabolism will slow. During caloric deficit the body can’t build muscle because it’s too busy using it for fuel. Why would you want to destroy the very thing that speeds up your metabolism and allows you to take in more calories?

If you’re still not convinced, I took some weight loss and weight maintenance advice I gathered from other websites and applied it to myself. For the most part the results don’t even come close to my actual situation. If I followed their advice I would be one unhappy and unhealthy woman.

But don’t give up on your healthy living plans, it is possible to make positive changes in your body that you’ll be able to maintain. As far as I’m concerned it’s a lot easier to lose weight than diet “experts” would have you believ.

“Find the fun in exercise:” the best fitness advice that I can give anybody. And although I’m not a personal trainer myself, I do know that exercise, although as important as it may be, can sometimes be dull and routine.

Throughout life, you’ll hear things like “learn to love what you do,” and “make the best of it.” Although sometimes accurate, it’s important that we do things we like. Learning to like, in my opinion, is much different from naturally charming an exercise that’s enjoyable. Routines can be easy, and not very strenuous; but after all, they are just routines. As practitioners of fitness and exercise, we should teach ourselves new things, while also teaching our body the same. This is inherently true with things like dance. More specifically, Zumba is an excellent example of something dissimilar, fun, and exclusive. The ability to genuinely enhance cardiovascular function and endurance, while practicing muscle memory routines effectively exercises the whole body. Moreover, it’s very entertaining!

Entering into intramural sporting activities is another way to stay in shape while having some fun! This would include things like summer league softball, volleyball, soccer, etc… Meanwhile, there are less strenuous athletic events like kickball tournaments. Some towns are even host to dodge ball events! Depending upon your competitive level, it may be necessary to enter into a B league, or perhaps even co-ed. This will surely be a primer for more intramurals to come – Leagues typically run all year depending upon each facility’s ability to house its competitors.

But again, exercising doesn’t have to be routine, or highly competitive; so it’s with my last suggestion that I present to you outdoor activities. These are things like swimming, kayaking, tubing, jogging, mountain climbing, etc.. All of these activities are thoroughly enjoyable, and will shed calories. Although some of the above can be viewed as leisurely, they can be very effective ways to stay in shape. Treadmills and Ellipticals will shed weight and enhance muscle strength/endurance, but will never capture the soul and rhythm of dance, or perhaps the wonderment of climbing a mountain.

Remember to pull away from your everyday fitness routines and home gyms. Pick up a class or two of Zumba, or sign up for an intramural soccer league, and be on your way to fitness pleasure and diversity!

Jim Rollince is from Gym Source, distributor of home gym equipment, including treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, arc trainers, and much more! Jim works closely with personal trainers and fitness instructors, helping people to get in shape and stay healthy.

I’m always a little confused when I read the details of weight loss plans that I find in popular health and fitness magazines. So I decided to crunch some numbers, and I was more than surprised with what I found.

Why popular weight loss plans concern me

Take this diet I saw in a fitness magazine. It probably sounds a lot like plans you’ve seen in similar publications. The first thing that made me uneasy was a recommended 1,400 calorie a day meal plan. No way, I thought,  you don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight.

Now I’m no expert, but I’ve read what many of them have to say. Most women need a few hundred calories above or below 1,400 (it can vary by person) just so their vital organs function, which means brains, hearts, lungs, kidneys and more. If you don’t consume more calories than that basic amount you’ll be risking your health and likely setting yourself up for a failed attempt at weight loss.

What about calories burned through exercise?

Which brings me to my next point. These weight loss plans don’t end at restricting calorie intake, they also recommend regular strength training and cardio workouts. If you take in 1,400 calories a day and burn off 400 during one workout session, that leaves only 1,000 for your body to use during the rest of the day – much less than what is considered essential. And as we’ve been told by experts in these same magazines, one workout session can boost the amount of calories you burn for hours afterwards, meaning even more calories gone.

What about calories burned through digestion?

But here’s another factor. You have to eat to take in those 1,400 calories, and every time you eat you’ll burn calories. About 10 percent of the calories you take in are burned off through digestion. So if you’re only taking in 1,400 you’ll burn about 140.

What about calories burned through NEAT?

The body’s calorie burning doesn’t stop there. You won’t be lying around doing nothing all day, getting in that one hour of exercise before becoming sedentary again. Every move you make throughout the day causes your body to burn calories, even something as seemingly unimportant as fidgeting. When calories are burned this way it’s known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT. Some people fidget and gesture so much throughout the day that they burn up to 350 calories.

When you do the math it’s easy to see why calorie restriction sets dieters up for failure.

If you want to get buff, or already are and want to maintain it, strength training is the only answer. When you’re at the gym there are endless possibilities for challenging the muscles, including cable and weight stack machines, free weights, isolation stations and more. At home you probably long for the same variety. The good news is it’s easy to get everything you need if you know the price you’re willing to pay.

Splurge
• Life Fitness home gym – If you’ve got about $3,000 kicking around you might be tempted by the Life Fitness G7, which includes a chin-up bar, adjustable cables with quick-lock attachments, dual weight stacks and a mounted exercise book. This home gym is about the best you can get. It allows the user to perform moves on a bench, standing, or using an exercise ball. Search our store to find a variety of home gyms for women.
• Vibration platform- Some say a vibrating platform is simply an unstable surface, much like a stability ball, but others, including many professional athletes and trainers believe it offers much more including increased muscle gains when used as part of a strength training program. Workouts done on a vibration platform are said to require only a few minutes, three to five times a week. Many of these machines cost around $1,000, but Gaiam makes its own version, called the Chi Vibe, which is relatively cheap at between $400 and $500.

Grab the advice below then surf our store to see find great deals on strength training equipment.

Steal
• Pilates bodybands – These kits include an instructional DVD and a set of two or more resistance bands for overall body toning and strengthening. Not only are they about as cheap a strength training system as you can get, at about $30, but they’re extremely portable and easy to store. Just because bands are light in terms of weight, doesn’t mean they can’t put the same force on your muscles as a 10 lb. dumbbell. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to pack your vibration platform in your suitcase and take with you on holiday.
• Stability ball – Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Stability balls can be a very useful part of your strength training program. To get the most out of your ball, use it in place of a weight bench. Not only is it a heck of a lot cheaper (about $10 to $20), but it will engage more of your muscles because it’s an unstable surface. You can also use the stability ball to make weight bearing exercises more difficult. Prop it under your hands for push-ups, push your feet into it for pelvic thrusts, place it between your back and the wall when performing squats…the possibilities are endless.