How Much Should You Trust a Weight Loss Estimator?
Have you thought about using a weight loss estimator? Should you really trust those types of calculations, though? Continue reading to learn about some of the pros and cons of weight loss calculators or estimators so you can use them wisely, and so you can maintain realistic expectations about your weight loss journey.
What Can a Weight Loss Estimator Tell You?
You can easily find weight loss estimators online. These online tools can help you figure out how many calories you should eat, and how much exercise you should do, if you want to reduce your current weight by a certain amount. Some will even help you figure out how you can lose a certain amount of weight by a specific date.
Take this calculator by LifeSpan, as an example. You can input several details about yourself, such as the following:
- Gender
- Age
- Height
- Lifestyle
- Current weight
- Goal weight
- How hard you’d like to work
- How much you want to focus on diet vs. exercise
Once you have inputted all of this information, the calculator will tell you how many days you will need to dedicate to losing the pounds, when you can expect to hit your goal weight, the amount of calories you will need to cut every day from your diet, and the number of calories you will need to burn through exercise every day.
What Are Some of the Benefits of Using a Weight Loss Estimator?
Your typical weight loss estimator will work on formulas, such as a pound of fat equals roughly 3,500 calories. Sure, you can do the math yourself, but when you use a weight loss calculator, it does all of the work for you. It also takes into account information about your body, such as your height, age, and gender, so that’s definitely a plus.
What Are Some of the Drawbacks of Using a Weight Loss Estimator?
You might find that the calculations made by a calculator don’t quite fit your unique needs. You may need to take a different, or less conventional, approach to your weight loss strategy, and a calculator that can work for everyone in the same way will not be able to take that into account. Also, if you are taking products, such as keto diet pills, to make it a little easier to shed the excess weight, there may not be a place where you can input that information into a weight loss calculator.
Overall, how much can you trust an estimator? It can serve as a great starting point and guide when you are beginning your weight loss journey, but keep in mind that different variables play a role in how many pounds you can shed within a certain span of time, so it might not be 100% accurate.
