If you want to lose weight and body fat, you must expend more calories than you consume, resulting in a caloric deficit. This is frequently performed by reducing the number of calories consumed, increasing the number of calories burned, or both. To lose a pound, you must burn off the number of calories contained in that pound.
It has long been assumed that in order to cut one pound, you must burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. To do this in one week, you must build a calorie deficit of 500 calories every day. However, research has shown that losing weight is more complicated than this simple calorie deficit formula implies.
What Is the Calorie Content of a Pound?
Many weight loss strategies have traditionally been developed around the 3,500 calorie notion. The idea is centered on the assumption that a pound of fat equals approximately 3500 calories.
The 3,500-calorie deficit originated in 1958, when a physician called Max Wishnofsky released a study claiming that a calorie deficit of this number would result in a pound of weight reduction. The concept has been mentioned in numerous studies and thousands of popular weight loss publications.
Several research have now cast doubt on this fundamental principle. Researchers have shown that creating a calorie deficit results in more than just fat loss. As calories are burnt, muscle is also lost.
Because muscle burns more calories than fat, losing muscle might have an effect on your overall metabolism.
It’s critical to understand that body fat isn’t just fat. Body fat is a compound composed of fat, fluids, and fat-free solids. So the actual caloric amount of a pound of fat is determined on the composition of that fat, which varies.
How Many Calories Should You Reduce to Lose Weight?
According to the 3,500 calorie hypothesis, a 500-calorie deficit each day should result in a weekly weight loss of one pound. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that this guideline greatly exaggerates the potential weight loss.
In the beginning, you may be able to shed a pound per week. However, if your body composition and metabolism alter, your rate of weight reduction may reduce.
The conventional 3,500-calorie deficit calculation ignores how your metabolism varies when trying to reduce weight. As your efforts develop, you may require an even greater calorie deficit to observe weight loss.
Because you are losing muscle mass while shedding body fat, your metabolism may begin to slow, resulting in a slower rate of calorie burn.
This is the reason why, as you lose weight and exercise more, you may experience plateaus in your weight reduction. There are other metabolic, behavioral, neuroendocrine, and unconscious systems at work that can promote your body to stay fat. According to researchers, this approach, known as adaptive thermogenesis, creates the optimum environment for weight restoration.
How to Get a Calorie Deficiency
While the 3,500-calorie rule may not be completely accurate, it is true that losing weight necessitates burning more calories than you ingest. You have a few options for achieving this calorie deficit.
Reduce Your Calorie Consumption
Reduced calorie intake during the day can be an important aspect of any weight management regimen. However, it is critical to provide your body with the fuel it requires to function properly.
Cutting too many calories can decrease your metabolism and make losing weight even more difficult. Highly calorie-restricted diets can also cause muscle loss, which can thwart your weight loss goals.
Even if you’re lowering calories, eat a well-balanced diet. Avoiding empty calories and focusing on nutritionally dense calories can assist.
Boost Your Calorie Burn
Exercise is essential for weight loss, but it is not a magic bullet. Between 1-2 pounds per week is a reasonable and healthy weight loss rate. If you lose weight faster than that, you may be shedding too much muscle mass as well as fat.
The overall total number of calories you burn hinges upon a number of factors, including:
- Favorite activity (the type of exercise you do)
- The level of effort (speed, intensity)
- Time spent working out to lose weight
- Your current metabolic rate
Running, for example, would require roughly five miles to burn 500 calories in a day, because the average runner burns about 100 calories every mile. You will most likely burn more calories if you are heavier or work harder during your workout. You will probably burn less if you are lighter or work less fiercely.
Combine Calorie Cutting and Exercise
If you don’t have the time or stamina to exercise 500 calories per day, you could employ a combination of calorie reduction and exercise. For example, if you expended 300 calories per day from exercise, you would need to cut your daily suggested calorie intake by 200 calories.
Why Muscle Is Important
Add strength training and speedwork to your workout program to increase your calorie burn. One of the numerous advantages of strength training is that it increases your calorie burn when you’re working out and when you’re resting. If you do your strength training right after a hard running exercise, you will be able to use your next rest day as a true recovery day.
Increased protein consumption and regular weight lifting can help you lose more weight, minimize muscle loss, and even increase muscle. Because muscle burns more calories than fat, increasing your muscle mass will also help you burn more calories.
Strength training does not require a lot of hard lifting to reap the benefits. A couple of times per week, try doing some simple workouts like core exercises or lower body activities.
By raising your calorie burn, high-intensity workouts can also aid begin your weight loss attempts. If you aren’t physically prepared for such tough workouts, focus on short bursts of higher-intensity exercise during your session. During your workout, for example, you could alternate between spending 30 seconds exercising at your greatest effort and then slowing it down for a couple of minutes.
A Final Thought from DigENet
While the classic 3,500-calorie deficit guideline isn’t fully accurate, it’s not worthless. Cutting or burning 500 calories per day may not result in a pound of weight reduction every week, but it is a good place to start.
Remember not to get too fixated on the scale’s reading. Try to be aware of how you’re feeling in general. To track your progress, use measurements other than weight, such as inches lost or how your clothes fit. You may be gaining healthy lean muscle while losing fat.