Need help understanding calories.

[Jamie T]

Hello. I have recently begun a meal plan and exercise schedule in order to lose weight. But theres one thing that I do not understand. And that's calories and intake of calories. So in order to burn a pound you need to burn 500 more calories you eat. So if I were to eat 1500 calories a day. Would that mean that I have to burn 2000 a day which seems a lot or burn 500 a day. I'm really confused?!

 

[Omega]

I think that you would benefit from reading these threads and maybe some of the other pinned threads around the forum:

https://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/a-rant-about-basic-concepts-i.11548/

https://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/how-many-calories-should-i-eat.40273/

https://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/nutrition-101.5534/

I would strongly recommend all the pinned threads in the "on topic" section.

All the calories you eat in a day need to be burnt or they are laid to fat. If you burn 500 extra than you eat those extra 500 calories go towards burning fat... There are a lot of factors that you are not thinking of - things like the calories you burn by just being alive - all that breathing etc expends energy and therefore burns calories - we are not just talking about the time exercising...

 

[David Dernie]

Hi Jamie,

Simply put weight loss involves eating or burning less calories than you eat.

You should really look at calorie intake over a week and not a day.

For example; 1lb of fat = 3500 calories
So if you eat 500 calories less per day you should start to lose weight.

There are many more variables than this but this is the basics.

Understanding how many calories you need in the first place is the hard part.

If you need help with that let me know.

All the best,
Dave

 

[ThinHappy40]

you would have to burn 2000. you have to burn more than you consume to lose weight.

 

[Jessica Smith]

If the calories needed for you is about 2500 calories, you should consume 2000 calories, and this is the only way to lose weight effectively.

 

[Tyler John]

There's a lot of confusion with the calories in and calories out discussion. I believe the best way is to look at it in terms of what type of food are you taking in and if you're body will really burn it efficiently. Taking in 2000 calories of french fries is different from taking 2000 calories of chicken breast. Your body will react differently in handling these two types of food.

Now is the best time to set goals for your diet plan because there's tons of apps in our mobile devices that can easily customize food preparation and exercises. The only challenge is if you can stick to it for at least two weeks. I feel this is the perfect time for your body to adapt and set your discipline to reach your weight loss goals.

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