How Many Calories Must You Burn to Lose Weight?
Weight loss is primarily an equation that involves your caloric intake and your energy expenditure. Caloric intake is how many calories you consume. Energy expenditure is how many calories you burn. To lose weight, your caloric intake must be less than your energy expenditure, or put another way, you must burn more calories than you consume.
Caloric Intake
Overeating, or eating more calories than you burn, will make you gain weight. It doesn't matter if you are living a sedentary lifestyle or running marathons. You cannot eat more calories than you use on a daily basis. According to Dietnation.com, one pound of fat equals approximately 3,500 calories. When you consume less than you burn, you are burning some of the 3,500 calories that are in a pound of your body fat.
Energy Expenditure: BMR
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are three types of energy expenditure, two of which fall under bodily processes. Your body uses 10% of calories consumed daily to process food. The other calories spent on body maintenance. Calories used "as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells" are considered your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Approximately two-thirds or more of daily calories expended go to maintaining these basic functions. The minimum amount of calories that you need is your BMR, plus a little more for food processing.
Energy Expenditure: Exercise
Exercise, or physical activity, is the third type of energy expenditure. When most people talk about burning calories, they mean doing exercise. Since you cannot do much to change your BMR, exercise gives you the most control. One hour of ballroom dancing burns 219 calories, an hour of football burns 584 calories, and an hour of hiking burns 438 calories. Basic exercise such as low-impact aerobics burns 365 calories an hour, swimming burns 511 calories, and running burns 986 calories. These numbers are for a 160-pound person. A person who weighs more will burn more calories.
Variables
Muscle burns more calories than fat does, therefore lifting weights to increase your bodily composition of muscle can help you burn more calories by increasing your BMR. Also, because muscle mass decreases with age, you need fewer calories as you age. Lastly, males have more muscle and less fat than females and consequently have a higher BMR. If you are a woman eating the same amount as a man who appears to be your size, you may be eating too much.
Recommendations
The best way to lose weight is to not only consume fewer calories, but also to increase the amount that you exercise. You can lose weight by doing one or the other, but it is not the most efficient way. You should do both. To monitor your caloric intake, keep a daily food diary. It allows you to see exactly what you are eating so you can then make any adjustment needed. It is also important to document your daily exercise, so you can balance your weight-loss equation and set appropriate goals.
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