In Monday’s column, I gave some general guidelines for making vegan food choices to promote healthy weight loss and maintenance.

Although there are lots of different approaches to weight loss, most people end up counting calories to some extent. Arriving at an ideal intake for steady slow weight loss depends on body size and activity level so it’s kind of a matter of trial and error. If you are a woman of average height who is moderately active, start out at around 1800 calories per day and then adjust the number up or down to achieve a weight loss of around ½ to 1 pound per week.