How Many Calories Does It Take To Lose A Pound?

This question is a very important one
, because if you know How Many Calories It Takes To Lose A Pound, you can shed fat and lose weight. If you haven't already figured this out yet, calories are very important to understand. They are the keys to our success for either losing weight or gaining muscle mass.

 

The answer is 3,500 calories for 1 pound of fat. That does not mean you have to burn 3500 calories in order to lose weight. It simply means you need to have 3,500 calories less than your body needs to maintain its weight.

Real Life Example
Let me give you an example. I recently lost 18 pounds in 9 weeks. The first thing I did was calculated my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is the number of calories your body will naturally burn even while you sleep and rest. For me personally my BMR was 2100, so if I didn't do anything and I consumed 2,100 calories each day, I would stay exactly the same.

So, I set a goal to lose 2 pounds per week. This is a safe number to lose and I was very happy with that number. Now... let's do some math. 3,500 calories equals one pound and that means 7,000 calories is two pounds. This means I would have to have a calorie deficit of 7,000 calories per week or 1000 per day.
I decided to eat around 1,700 to 1,800 calories each day. That would put me at a 300 to 400 calorie deficit for the day as far as consumption is concerned. I was also doing high intensity cardio workouts which burned more calories. I was burning between 600 to 700 calories a day. When you add the calories burned deficit to the calories consumed deficit that would put me at 1,000 calorie deficit each day. For 9 weeks straight I lost about 2 pounds every single week.

It really can be as simple as that. Taking this approach along with eating all healthy foods is a great formula to lose weight and keep it of for a life time. So, just remember that you need to figure out what your body requires to maintain your current wait with your normal daily activity.

Here's a recap of the steps to take
Step 1

• Figure your daily calorie maintenance intake including your daily activity.
• Example: BMR = 1,700 Calories
• Activity (Office Worker) 400 Calories
• Total - 2,100

Step 2

• Subtract 500 Calories
• 500 x 7 days = 3,500 Calories (Lose 1 pound per week)

Step 3 (Optional)

• Burn 500 extra calories per day through exercise
• This would give you another 3,500 calories under your calorie intake and would result in another pound lost.

So, basically you need to create a 3,500 calorie deficit for every pound you want to lose. Obviously you want to do this at a slow and healthy pace. Eat your 5 to 6 meals per day and drink lots of water. This will give you the best chance to succeed in your weight loss goals.
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