How many calories must I burn to lose 1 pound?
exercise questions Exercise Answer:
There are 3,500 calories in one pound of body fat. You should focus on creating a deficit of 500 calories a day, which over the course of one week will result in one pound of weight loss (500 calories X 7 days = 3,500 calories). This can either be accomplished through burning the calories through exercise, creating a caloric deficit through your diet or a combination of both. I recommend a combination because its the easiest way to incorporate into an overall fitness plan. Work on making a small change in your diet to create a 250 calorie deficit and then add about 30 minutes of cardio training a day to burn the other 250 calories. A great workout
will consist of cardio cross training a few exercises such as jogging on the treadmill and jumping rope.
How many calories do I need to burn to lose a pound of fat?
3500 calories is the rough estimate for the energy contained in one pound of fat. This means that to lose one pound per week, you must create a deficit of 3500 calories per week. Since a week as 7 days, that means a deficit of 3500 / 7 = 500 calories per day.
This is a great starting point. The reality is much more complex .. for example, 3500 calories will not produce a pound of muscle, it actually takes more than that, etc etc ... but as a general rule of thumb, it gives you a starting point and then you can play with the numbers from there.
To really appreciate the power of losing even a pound of fat, visit How Many Pounds? and find out interesting facts such as how many pots of coffee you could brew or how many times you could walk across England with the calories you burn.
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