How Many Calories in a Pound? Weight Loss Planning Tips

Weight gain is becoming more commonplace, as is a more sedentary lifestyle. So, how can you combat weight gain effectively? One of the most important factors comes down to math.

Do you know how many calories you would need to cut or burn in order to lose a pound of body weight? That number is the key to weight loss planning, and it’s actually simple math.

There are 3,500 calories in a pound, which means you would need to either cut that number of calories from your diet or burn that number of calories through physical activity to lose your first pound of weight.

How fast you lose weight is wholly dependent on how quickly you reach that number. For example, if you cut 500 calories from your diet each day for seven days, you will lose one pound that week.

A little math up front will help you plan for successful, consistent weight loss.

In this way, you can plan the pace of your target weight loss by considering how many calories you are willing to go without. To put 500 calories into perspective, it is generally equivalent to a full meal. Eating two hard-boiled eggs and two pieces of toast comes in at about 300 calories, so it’s that amount of food and more.

One reasonable way to remove 500 calories from your daily diet is to cut out snacks and stick with just three meals each day. However, you can cut more or less than 500 calories, depending on your tolerance.

By cutting 300 calories a day, you would lose a pound of body weight in about 12 days. It’s a slower pace, but it might be easier to do. On the other hand, cutting 1,000 calories each day would allow you to lose a pound in just 3.5 days.

Weight loss that is too rapid can be harmful to your body, so aiming for no more than two pounds of weight loss each week is best. Your body needs a certain number of calories to function and feed your brain. You don’t want to deny yourself to extremes where those functions would be in danger.

Healthy weight loss plans stay within the range of cutting between 100 and 1,000 calories daily. This will result in consistent, healthy weight loss that takes the guesswork out of the equation.