Ok  say you’ve lost the weight and want to keep it off or you’ve come to a plateau with your weight loss! Try calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the energy needed by the body just to function i.e. to blink, breath, swallow etc

Roughly ten calories per lb of bodyweight are used to meet your BMR needs. So for example you weigh 140lbs, you need to multiply 140 by 10, which equals 1400 calories needed daily to function. This is an approximate measurement and does not take into consideration your height, gender and age.. If you search for BMR calculator on the internet, you will get a more accurate calculation. Try www.bmi-calculator.net

 After this your calorie needs depend on your activity levels. A guide is below:

> Sedentary, add 20% of your BMR

> Light activity, add on 30% of BMR

> Moderate activity, add 40% of BMR

.>Very active, add 50% of BMR

So let's go back to our 140lbs person who is moderately active. 40% of his/her BMR is 560. Add this to 1400 and you get 1960 calories per day needed to sustain his/her current weight.

For weight loss we recommend you reducing this 10 –20% to carry on losing weight gradually.

Carbohydrate to Exercise Ratio

We recommend that if weight loss is a goal, you should reduce the amount of carbohydrates that you consume - this includes foods such as bread, rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes etc.  Carbohydrates are energy, plain and simple.  If you don't do any exercise to burn this energy off, it will be stored in the body which results in weight gain and low energy levels.  So to prevent this from happening, aim to include more protein based foods into your diet - oily fish, chicken, turkey, fruits and vegetables (steamed and raw), eggs, certain nuts etc.  This will help ensure the hormonal reaction to food is well balanced and provide enough energy to help you get through the day.  Breakfast is usually the biggest downfall for people - they think that because they are having a cereal that is advertised as being healthy, they are being really good.  The scary truth is that most of these 'healthy' cereals are jam packed with salt and sugar and provide little nutritional content.  A better alternative for breakfast would be; scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, poached egg, raw vegetables, oily fish or good quality cuts of meat.  This may sound bizarre for breakfast but you will be amazed at how satisfying it is and how much energy you have! Go on.....give it a shot!