The amount of calories required each day depends on a number of factors, such as age, weight, activity levels and your overall health and fitness goals. If weight loss is your goal then you need to start to reduce down your calories by about 250 calories per day. 

For healthy weight loss, if your current diet is maintaining your weight, you can lower your daily intake by around 250 calories per day to achieve 0.25kg of weight loss per week. It is important to  ensure you are eating nutritious and healthy meals:

• Eat enough protein to ensure your fat burning machine, muscle mass, is primed and ready to burn fat. Fat gets transported to healthy muscles to be metabolised and used for energy. This process can be impaired if you don’t get enough protein to maintain your muscle mass.
• Eat enough fibre to feed your helpful gut bugs, which will keep you feeling fuller for longer and provide you with a sustained amount of energy throughout the day.
• Hydration is important when losing weight. Ensure you drink sufficient water throughout the day to stay hydrated, about 1 to 2 litres is recommended. Often it is common to confuse thirst signals for hunger signals.

The first thing to do is to decide on your weight loss target goal. Planning and organisation is then required to ensure you have everything you need to reach this goal. Your food in-take is very important in achieving your weight loss goals. Make sure to consume a nutritious diet of wholefoods and limit your intake of processed foods and high calorie drinks such soft drinks and alcohol.

Making some simple changes to your diet can have a huge impact The 3pm daily snacks many people indulge in can be swapped out for something healthy like fruit or yoghurt. Changes like this can be made here and there easily and make a huge difference.

You can, but be sure to closely monitor what you are eating. Weight loss happens when you are in calorie deficit.  So if your intake means you’re getting less calories than your body needs, then you’ll lose weight as a result of a calorie deficit. However by adding in physical exercise to your day it allows you to burn more calories than just dieting.

In short the answer is yes, however you need to ensure your protein intake is increased to around 2-2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight each day. If this occurs while you are in a slight calorie deficit (around 10% less than your daily calorie requirements), you can achieve a gradual loss of weight over time, while still having the protein stores available to gain muscle mass.

However, significant calorie deficits during periods of high protein intake can result in difficulty in maintaining a balanced diet. This may cause you to miss out on key nutrients required to keep your energy levels high and important nutrients such as gut friendly fibre.

When trying to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means you need to eat fewer calories than your body will burn in a day. When your body isn’t getting enough fuel it is likely you will feel hungry, therefore you should try to eat meals and snacks rich in wholefood sources of protein and fibre to help minimise hunger and cravings.  

Once you have done the hard work of achieving your weight loss goal, maintaining that loss should be the next goal. Sometimes the most challenging part of maintaining your weight loss is getting the right nutrition.  Keeping track of your food intake in a diary  can be very helpful, plan ahead and have nutritionally balanced meals and snacks ready to go when needed. As long as you are well prepared you are less likely to return to old , unhealthy habits.

High fibre food groups such as fruit and vegetables are key. You should also eat a range of protein types - from animal to plant-based. This will ensure you feel full and energised throughout the day while receiving all the necessary nutrients you need.