Counting calories is an effective method. First, you need to figure out your goal weight and body fat percentage. As an example, let's go with 200 lbs. goat weight. Adult men average around 18-24% body fat, so let’s go with 20%. OK, now that we know those two numbers, a little math. If you are 20% body fat, that means you are 80% lean mass. 200 lbs. x 80% = 160 lbs. of lean mass. Now that we know the amount of lean mass, we can calculate our Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. BMR = (Lean mass x 10) + 500 BMR = (160 x 10) + 500 BMR = 1600 + 500 BMR = 2100 Now that we know our BMR, we can calculate our daily caloric needs. In order to get this number we must multiply our BMR by a certain amount to account for the energy we need to live our day to day lives. This certain amount is called the Activity Variable. If you work your ass off all day, you're going to need more calories than someone who sits in a cubicle all day, right? Here is a common list of activity variables: 1.2 = Sedentary (Desk job, and Little Formal Exercise) 1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Light daily activity AND light exercise 1-3 days a week) 1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderately daily Activity & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week) 1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise 6-7 days a week) 1.9-2.2 = Extremely Active (Athlete in ENDURANCE training or VERY HARD physical job) Say we work our hands to the bone 84 hours a week. Our activity variable would be around 2. Total caloric needs = BMR x 2 Total caloric needs = 2100 x 2 Total caloric needs = 4200 calories On the other hand, say we work a desk job all week and do little else on our off hours. Our activity variable would be 1 to 1.2. Obviously there's no point in multiplying by 1, so let’s use 1.2. Total caloric needs = BMR x 1.2 Total caloric needs = 2100 x 1.2 Total caloric needs = 2,520 calories Caloric values for a wide variety of foods can be found at CalorieKing.com. In addition to cutting the calories, make sure to cut out as many sweets, white rice, bread, sugar, honey, processed foods, and sodas as you can.