t's now ten months into the New Year and I'm checking in to see how you're doing with your New Year's resolution to eat more healthfully. You may recall that back in January, I proposed that, as your sole New Year's resolution, you resolve to simply be healthier by informing every dining and activity decision with the goal of making the healthiest choice. I suggested small changes such as choosing whole-grain bread over white bread when ordering a sandwich and turning off the television earlier so that you could get a little extra sleep. My thinking was that if you could motivate yourself with the valued and benign goal of health, as opposed to using fear, guilt or deprivation to determine what you eat for dinner, then you could more successfully make important changes in your life.

So how are you doing? Have you made any changes? Have you lost any weight? I've spoken with many of you over the last ten months and I know that you've lost some weight and made some excellent lifestyle changes. But perhaps things are stalling for you now. Fall is typically the time of year that I hear the most complaints about hitting a weight loss plateau, meaning that despite continuing the eating and activity patterns that were bringing about weight loss, the scale just won't budge. How frustrating! What gives?

Simply stated: The more you weigh, the more calories you need to maintain your weight; as you lose weight, your body requires fewer calories to maintain your new weight. Although you may be eating the same number of calories and exercising the same amount that helped you lose weight initially, you will need to eat fewer calories and/or increase your activity if you want to lose more weight. With every 15 or 20 pounds you lose, you will need to recalibrate your calorie intake.

Sounds simple enough, but there are many factors to consider when you reevaluate your current plan. How many calories are you eating daily on average? If you keep a food journal, you may already know, or you may need to look up the calories of the foods you've journaled and then add them up. If you don't keep a food journal then I suggest you start, since it is one of the most helpful weight loss tools. The process of tracking your eating and adding up your calorie intake should take a few days. Use a calorie counter book or visit a website that give you free access to a foods database that allows you to analyze your calorie intake. Try www.nutritiondata.com, www.mypyramidtracker.gov, or some combination of things that work for you. By the way, if you find that you are eating under 1,200 calories, then that is too few and you will need to increase your calorie intake if you want to lose more weight.

Don't put your calculator away yet! Get out a piece of scratch paper and let's calculate how many calories you actually need to maintain your current weight:

Calculate your weight in kilograms by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.2. Next, determine your height in centimeters by multiplying your height in inches by 2.54.

Remember:
5 feet=60 inches
6 feet=72 inches
1 inch=2.54 centimeters
1 kilogram=2.2 pounds

Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body needs just to stay in bed all day and do nothing but run itself.

For women, use this equation:
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)

For men, use this equation:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x height in centimeters) - (6.8 x age in years)

Hang in there!

Select the activity factor from the Physical Activity Chart that most closely represents your weekly activity level (be honest!).

Activity Level	Description	Activity Factor
Sedentary	Mainly sitting, reading, typing, driving, lying down, sleeping, standing	1.2
Lightly active	(no more than 2 hours/day) light housework, grocery shopping, leisure activities, light exercise 1-3 days a week	1.375
Moderately active	Heavy housework, gardening, dancing, brisk walking, moderate exercise 3-5 days/week	1.55
Very active	Labor-intensive job, such as construction work, hard exercise 6-7 days/week	1.725

Multiply your BMR from Step 2 by your activity factor.

BMR x Activity Factor = Total Calorie Needs

The number you come up with should be a very good estimate of the number of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. If you need to lose weight, you can subtract 500 calories from your total calorie needs for a weight loss of one pound per week. To lose two pounds per week, subtract 1,000 calories per day.

Now that we've got the hard numbers, let's discuss some practical ways to put them to work for us. You could take a couple of different routes. First, you could simply keep eating the same foods you are eating, but eat less of them. This strategy works well for a lot of people, especially for those who don't cook or for those who eat at restaurants very often. However, if you've already employed this trick to lose weight initially, then it might be difficult to trim more food off your plate. A second strategy would be to shake things up and do a few things differently for a week or two. For example, if you were eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, then you might want to try exchanging your high-protein breakfast for a whole-grain breakfast with moderate protein. If you're eating a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, you may want to try substituting some protein for some of the carbs in your meals. Making changes like these can be helpful when you're trying to descend from your plateau. If you have been keeping a food journal, you may want to look back at what you were eating when you were losing weight and compare it to what you are doing now-you may have strayed from your original plan more than you think! The one factor that should not change much is your fruit and vegetable intake. They're your best friends in weight loss and in health. Aim for at least three cups of vegetables and at least two cups of fruit a day. If you're still hungry after meeting your protein and carbohydrate goals, then munch on some naked vegetables. Also, take a look at your sodium intake. That might be a good thing to track along with your calories. If you eat a lot of packaged or processed foods or if you eat at restaurants, then your salt intake could be causing you to retain water. Try to cut sodium wherever you can by comparing products, choosing minimally processed versions of your favorite foods, and by not using the salt shaker. Also, be sure to drink plenty of water to help flush out any excess salt.

The other factor in the calorie equation is the number of calories you burn. This one is difficult to change, too, because it may mean more time spent exercising. For most of us, though, it's hard enough to set aside the little time we do have for exercise. Even if you can't devote more time to exercise, you still have options: spend more time on aerobic exercise than on resistance exercise; emphasize weight-bearing aerobic activities, such as jogging, walking, dancing, and stair-climbing rather than non-weight bearing activities like swimming and bicycling; increase the incline of your workout instead of using a flat surface; increase the intensity of your workout by using your arms more or by moving faster.

I know that hitting a weight-loss plateau is frustrating, but I don't want you to be discouraged. Many people successfully lose weight in stages, with periods of weight maintenance in between. Some people call it a plateau, but you could also see it as a temporary weight maintenance stage before you start losing weight again. Maintaining your loss can be more difficult than actually losing the weight, so think of this time as an opportunity to practice holding your weight steady. Good health should still be your main focus, but being at a healthy weight is an important factor in your health. Don't give up on your goal of being healthier simply because you stopped seeing results. Take a new approach to help perfect the wonderful changes that you've already made in your life. Combine a change in your diet with a shake-up in your exercise routine and that should finally push you off of that frustrating plateau.