We all need a minimum number of calories simply to survive, but we can also set a calorie limit to maintain a healthy weight. You can calculate the total number of calories you need for your type of lifestyle, then use this figure to decide on a range of calories to consume each day.

STEP 1: Calculate the minimum number of calories you need by multiplying your current or desired weight in pounds by 10 if you're a woman, 11 if you're a man. This number represents your basic calorie needs.

STEP 2: Calculate the number of calories required for your activity level by multiplying your basic calorie needs (the calculation from step 1) by your activity level ( see next paragraph) - 20 percent or 0.2, 30 percent or 0.3, 40 percent or 0.4, or 50 percent or 0.5. The resulting number represents your activity- based calorie needs.

Use the following as a guideline for determining your activity level: 20 percent if you sit or lie still for most of the day, with little or no exercise; 30 percent if you walk less than two miles per day; 40 percent if you are somewhat active, doing activities such as dancing, doing a lot of work in the house or garden, or taking exercise classes; and 50 percent if you're actively involved in a sport or you have job that requires a great deal of physical labor, such as construction work.

STEP 3: Calculate the number of calories your body needs for food digestion and absorption by adding your basic calorie needs and your activity-based calorie needs (the answers from steps 1 and 2) and multiplying this sum by 0.10. These are the calories you need for digestion.

Add the three calculations from steps 1, 2 and 3: This is your total daily calorie need to maintain your desired weight.

Tips: Consuming fewer than 10 calories per pound of your current weight will slow down your metabolism and cause you to burn calories more slowly. For instance, if you weigh 145 pounds, avoid consuming fewer than 1,450 calories a day as this will only be counterproductive.

Weight Loss Plateaus: This happens when our bodies becomes more efficient at using energy (lowered metabolism), and therefore burn less fat as a result of a lower calorie intake. This explains why some people are eating like a bird and still not losing weight. This also explains why after someone finishes a diet, they are likely to regain the weight. This also explains why people who cut calories but do not exercise are not as successful at weight loss and maintenance as those who do both in moderation.

Tips on Boosting Your Metabolism: exercise and occasional cheat meals have actually been shown to increase metabolism.

The goal is a balance between enough calories so that your body does not decrease metabolism and enough exercise so that you increase metabolism and burn more calories.

This is a long term goal and not a quick fix.

Remember that there are two situations that are known to increase your cortisol (stress hormone) level- you know, the hormone that helps you to store body fat and accelerates aging- 1. not eating enough calories on a daily basis ( especially eating too few carbohydrates daily) and 2. exercising too much.

Both of these situations put tremendous stress on the body by increasing cortisol levels and are counterproductive to healthy living.

The body and the brain view both of these as stressful and life threatening situations. It is just the way that we are wired.

Everything in moderation- including moderation!

If this all sounds too complicated, there are Calorie Calculators to determine your daily calorie needs.

Below is a link to a free online calorie calculator that will allow you to obtain calorie needs for weight maintenance, weight loss and weight gain.

The groundwork of all happiness is health. Leigh Hunt

The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results. Anthony Robbins

The first wealth is health. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn

Become addicted to constant and never ending self improvement. Anthony J. D'Angelo