What it really means to BURN more Calories than you consume

Ok first of all you need to understand that one pound of fat is made up of roughly 3500 extra calories.  WOW, isn't that wild to think that to gain a single little ole pound.  We must eat 3500 extra calories.  So it only makes sense to lose that pound you must create a caloric deficit of 3500 calories.


Ok that seems simple really. (Ha Ha Ha...really then why am I fat?)    You can create this deficit in one of three ways.


1.  Eat fewer calories than you burn each day.  Keep in mind your body burns calories all day long as part of the Basal Metabolic Rate or (BMR), because it takes energy ( calories) to perform basic functions that are necessary for life, such as breathing, digesting, circulating and thinking, on top of that all the things we do each day like, walking, bathing, dressing, and exercise all need calories to complete.  So we burn calories just by doing these things.


Our age, gender and weight give us our BMR and everyone's is slightly different.  So to put this in perspective, if you were to eat 500 fewer calories a day for 7 days that is a 3500 calorie deficit and you would lose one pound.


2.  Burn more calories than you consume by increasing your physical activity.  If you east enough calories to support your BMR, but exercise more you will create a caloric deficit by burning extra calories.  This only works if you are not overeating to begin with.


For example, if you exercise to burn an extra 50o calories a day, you will lose about a pound of fat in 7 days.


3.  A combination of eating fewer calories and exercising to burn more calories.  This is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off.  It is much easier to create a substantial calorie deficit when you combine eating less with exercise because you do not have to deprive yourself of food and you do not have to exercise in crazy amounts.


If you cut 200 calories a day from your diet and burn and extra 300 calories a day through exercise you would lose about one pound a week.  


With all of this in mind, please remember that our bodies are not equations.  They may not do exactly the way the numbers say they should for many reasons, including, hydration, salt, and hormone factors just to name a few.


Bottom line is if you try to incorporate the calorie in and calorie out approach as describe in #3 you WILL lose weight consistently.  


I have found it to be a proven science.