How Many Calories Consumed to Lose Weight?

If you want to find out how many calories consumed to lose weight, I shall go through some simple arithmetic with you. But before doing so, let me share with you some of the facts about calories and fat in relation to losing weight.

I see dozens of people running on treadmills every day I go to the gym. Some of them are running from the moment I arrive until the time I leave. I always wonder if these people really enjoy running, or if they are running in hopes of burning off body fat.

I did a mini survey because we are there every day and we almost know each other. Most of them are interested in fat loss, and only a small portion of them are actually doing it simply because they like running. Some just do it as a pass time, knowing that exercising is better than not exercising. Unfortunately for these people running is not a very effective way of burning fat and losing weight. Let me explain and please get ready a calculator.

No matter if you walk or run your body burns the same number of calories per kilometer that you travel. You actually burn one calorie per kg of bodyweight per kilometer.

1 calorie x kg bodyweight x kilometer = total calories burned

Let's say you are a 200-lb man (app. 90 kg), and you went for a 5 kilometer run/walk. You would burn off about 450 calories during this exercise, for arguments sake let's also say it took you 1 hour.

The calculation looks like this:

1 calorie x 90 kilograms bodyweight x 5 kilometers = 450 calories

There are two catches to this.

First catch: you will only burn this many calories if you weigh 200 lbs. If you weigh 150 lbs you will only burn 340 calories over a 5 kilometer run/walk. And don't forget it takes you an hour.

Second catch: This total number of calories is not over and above your resting metabolic rate.

In this example the 200-lb man probably has a resting metabolic rate of about 90 calories per hour. So even if he didn't go for this 5 kilometer run/walk he would have still burned off 90 calories during that hour.

This means his total EXTRA calories burned from this hour of exercise is actually 450cal - 90cals.

So his total number of EXTRA calories burned for the day is only 360 calories.

When it comes to exercise I know there is an old saying that "every little bit counts". But wow every bit really does seem LITTLE when you really get down to measuring it like this!

You may have already known that you need to burn 3,500 calories in order to lose one pound. Depends on the number of pounds you want to shed, it's easy to work out how many calories you need to burn on a daily basis. Reviewing the above calculations, exercising to burn off body fat and lose weight doesn't sound a good deal. However consuming fewer calories is. So your question of "How Many Calories Consumed to Lose Weight" sounds sensible.

The amount of calories required varies according to sex, age, height, activity level and the amount of muscle you have. Let say the 200-lb man requires 2,500 calories everyday and he wants to lose 20 pounds. He can skip two days of eating to cut 5,000 calories in a week and lose roughly 1.5 pound. That will take him around 13 weeks to achieve his 20 pounds weight loss goal. However we don't only count on numbers to survive. There are many associated concerns such as low energy, slow metabolism, hunger strike, starvation and the list goes on. Is it really possible to eat less, maintain our normal activities and at the same time lose weight?

The bottom line is - If you truly want to lose weight and burn fat you must find a style of eating that allows you to eat less food and enjoy the food you eat.

Check out the book Eat Stop Eat and you'll find scientific answers to the above.

Anna is the author of http://www.fasting-for-weight-loss.com

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