Losing weight essentially comes down to consuming fewer calories than you burn. To lose 1 pound of fat, you need to create a 3,500-calorie deficit. This means you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. Here’s a closer look at how many calories you need to burn to lose 1 pound.
The Science Behind Calorie Deficits
Weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories than your body burns in a day. This is known as a calorie deficit. If your calorie deficit amounts to 3,500 calories, you lose approximately 1 pound of fat. This is because 1 pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories.
To better understand why a 3,500-calorie deficit equals 1 pound of fat loss, it helps to understand the science behind how your body stores and loses fat.
Your body stores excess calories from food as triglycerides in your fat cells. Triglycerides are comprised of glycerol and 3 fatty acids. When you eat more calories than your body needs, it converts the excess into triglycerides for storage.
To release stored fat for energy when you eat fewer calories than you burn, your body must break down triglycerides. This releases glycerol and fatty acids into your bloodstream. Glycerol can be converted into glucose for energy, while fatty acids can be used directly for fuel.
Releasing 1 gram of triglycerides provides your body with approximately 9 calories of energy. Since triglycerides are hydrophobic, they are stored with water in your fat cells. It’s estimated that each gram of triglycerides is stored with at least 3 grams of water.
Therefore, to lose 1 pound (454 grams) of stored body fat, your body must break down around 500 grams of triglycerides (providing 4,500 calories) and release around 1,500 grams of water. This amounts to a total calorie deficit of 3,500 calories (4,500 from triglycerides and 0 from water loss).
How Many Calories To Burn Per Day
To lose 1 pound per week, you need a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories. This adds up to a 3,500-calorie deficit over the course of a week, resulting in 1 pound of weight loss. Here’s a simple calculation:
- 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories
- 1 week = 7 days
- 3,500 calories ÷ 7 days = 500 calories per day
Therefore, burning 500 extra calories per day allows you to lose about 1 pound per week. This general rule applies to most people.
However, keep in mind that as you lose weight, your calorie needs decrease since you have less body weight. So you may need to adjust your calorie deficit over time to keep losing at a rate of 1 pound per week.
Calorie Deficit From Diet vs Exercise
You can create a 500-calorie daily deficit through diet, exercise, or a combination of both. Here’s an overview of how many calories you’d need to restrict versus burn to lose 1 pound per week:
Diet Only
To lose 1 pound per week by diet alone, you’d need to reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day. Here are two examples of how you could achieve this:
- If you normally eat 2,000 calories per day, you would need to reduce to 1,500 calories daily.
- If you normally eat 2,500 calories per day, you would need to reduce to 2,000 calories daily.
Exercise Only
To lose 1 pound per week by exercise alone, without changing your diet, you would need to burn an extra 500 calories per day through activity. Some examples include:
- Jogging: 70 minutes per day (at 7 mph pace)
- Hiking: 100 minutes per day (at 3.5 mph pace)
- Cycling: 60 minutes per day (at 12 mph pace)
Diet + Exercise
You can create a 500-calorie daily deficit through a combination of diet and exercise. Here are some examples:
- Reduce intake by 250 calories and burn 250 extra calories through exercise
- Reduce intake by 300 calories and burn 200 extra calories through exercise
- Reduce intake by 400 calories and burn 100 extra calories through exercise
This combination approach allows for more flexibility and sustainability in your regimen.
How Many Calories To Burn To Lose Faster
While 1-2 pounds per week is considered a safe rate of loss for most, you may be aiming to lose weight faster for a specific reason like an upcoming event. Here is how many extra calories you’d need to burn daily to lose faster:
| Daily Calorie Deficit | Weekly Deficit | Rate of Loss |
|---|---|---|
| 500 calories | 3,500 calories | 1 pound per week |
| 750 calories | 5,250 calories | 1.5 pounds per week |
| 1,000 calories | 7,000 calories | 2 pounds per week |
| 1,250 calories | 8,750 calories | 2.5 pounds per week |
As you can see, to lose weight faster, you simply need to increase your daily calorie deficit. Just keep in mind that larger deficits come with increased health risks when sustained over the long-term.
Calculating Your Calorie Needs
To determine your personal daily calorie deficit target for 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week, you’ll first need to calculate your maintenance calories. This is the number of calories your body burns just to perform basic functions like breathing, digesting food, pumping blood, etc.
Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is your maintenance calories plus any additional calories you burn through activity. Here are the steps to calculate this:
- Calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) using an online calculator. This is the minimum calories you’d burn if bedridden all day.
- Multiply your BMR by an activity factor based on your activity level (sedentary, moderately active, very active, etc.) to get your maintenance calories.
- Add calories burned from any exercise to get your total daily energy expenditure.
Once you know your TDEE, simply subtract 500-1,000 calories to lose 1-2 pounds per week. Or for faster weight loss, you can subtract a larger deficit, keeping health precautions in mind.
How Many Calories to Cut Per Day
When reducing your calorie intake to create a deficit, it’s generally not recommended to cut more than 500-1,000 calories per day from your maintenance needs.
Cutting calories by more than this can cause issues like:
- Severe hunger and cravings
- Fatigue and low energy
- Loss of lean muscle mass
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Slowed metabolism
To optimize health and sustainable weight loss, it’s best to cut no more than 500-1,000 calories from your TDEE when losing 1-2 pounds per week. Otherwise, the drawbacks tend to outweigh the benefits.
Adding Exercise to Burn Extra Calories
While diet is crucial for weight loss, adding exercise has many benefits like:
- Preserves and builds lean muscle mass
- Boosts metabolism
- Improves cardiovascular fitness
- Enhances overall health
- Increases calorie deficit for faster weight loss
Here are some examples of how many extra calories you can burn through exercise:
| Activity | Calories Burned Per Hour (For 160 lb Person) |
|---|---|
| Walking (3.5 mph) | 280 |
| Jogging (5 mph) | 475 |
| Swimming (leisurely) | 430 |
| Cycling (12-14 mph) | 590 |
| HIIT Training | 600 |
| Weight Lifting | 220 |
| Yoga | 180 |
Aim for at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous activity, along with some strength training sessions. This can create significant calorie deficits to help accelerate healthy weight loss.
The Importance of Fat Loss vs Weight Loss
When trying to lose weight, your goal shouldn’t just be the number on the scale but rather your body fat percentage. Preserving lean muscle while losing fat is key for metabolism, strength, fitness and aesthetics.
Unfortunately, aggressive calorie restriction tends to cause muscle loss. This is why combining a modest calorie deficit with exercise is ideal. It maximizes fat burning while minimizing muscle loss.
Use the scale as a guide, but also track your body fat percentage with methods like skin fold calipers, bioelectrical impedance (BIA) scales, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans or hydrostatic weighing to assess true fat loss.
Other Ways to Boost Fat Loss
In addition to exercise and diet, other strategies can support fat loss like:
- HIIT workouts: Short bursts of intense cardio are shown to burn more fat than steady-state cardio.
- Strength training: Lifting weights preserves and builds muscle while raising your metabolic rate.
- More protein: Eating more protein boosts metabolism, reduces hunger and preserves lean mass.
- Less refined carbs: Minimizing sugar and refined grains can improve body composition.
- Water: Drinking water has been shown to temporarily increase calorie burn.
A comprehensive approach that combines diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors will help maximize fat loss and weight loss results.
Conclusion
To lose 1 pound of fat per week, you need to have a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories through diet, exercise or a combination of both. Burning 3,500 more calories than you consume over the course of a week results in approximately 1 pound of fat loss.
While a 500-1,000 calorie daily deficit is typical for 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week, you can create larger deficits for more rapid weight loss if desired. Just be cautious about cutting calories too aggressively to prevent muscle loss and other downsides.
Focus on fat loss rather than the number on the scale, and use diet, exercise, and other strategies in a well-rounded program. Keeping realistic expectations and staying consistent with your regimen will help you achieve your body composition goals in a healthy, sustainable way.
