How Many Calories To Lose Weight?

Question

I still don't get this grrr.How many calories do I eat and have to burn to lose weight?

Say I eat 500 calories a day(blahblahblahb don't give me health lectures),I would have to burn about 1,000 to start losing weight and seeing results right?Or would I have to burn 500 to see results?

I just want to lose like 10-15 lbs for myself,I'm not overweight but I want to be at the very bottom of my BMI.I don't want health lectures,I don't care what is "heatlhy" or not,I don't care.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

You body is burning calories all the time. The reason we eat is because our body needs to use that food and turn it into energy. Your body metabolizes food (basically pull it apart and use what it needs) to change the food into energy. An average female that weighs 135lbs burns 56 calories per hour while she is sleeping. Think how many calories you burn a day by moving around!

How fast your body metabolizes things depends on a lot of factors, including genetics, which we can't help. However, how we can speed up the process by paying attention to how often we eat, and by building muscle (resting muscle burns a lot of calories). This is actually why doing something like weight lifting will help you loose weight faster than aerobic exercises.

Your body also doesn't usually process everything you put in it, so a lot of calories slip through when you go to the bathroom.

To loose weight you just have to eat less than you are burning. If you are burning 400+ calories while you sleep, imagine you are burning at least 1000 a day, if you DON'T work out. If yo do work out, say you are burning 500 calories from that, then you can easily eat 1000 calories a day and loose weight.

The thing you need to watch out for is if you start to starve yourself. No, I am not going on a health kick, I don't know you, and if you want to be unhealthy, then that is your choice. However, if you aren't eating enough, your metabolism will slow down and your body will start holding onto fat (only burn what is necessary at that moment - which is why you would be really tired all the time and feel like crud) and start taking up more during digestion so it can store it. You really don't want your metabolism to slow down, and you don't want to teach your body to store more fat. IF you lose any weight this way, the second you start eating "normally" your body will not only quickly regain what you lost, but there is a high chance you will gain more weight then when you started.

They say when you are trying to lose weight, you should eat a "healthy diet." Well, even though you aren't concerned with being healthy, you don't want to teach your body bad habits (like fat storage and slower metabolism). So if you want to lose weight, and be able to keep it off, you need to eat a healthy diet, just to keep your body in check.

Jonny_ · Accepted Answer

If you generally maintain the same weight on a diet, then doing an extra exercise will burn calories off. My suggestion is always, do not reduce the amount you eat, it's not a health thing, but it is to do with keeping your metabolism going. If you stop eating your metabolism changes, as soon as you eat your body will store it as fat, due to the fact you've eaten less and it's worried it will need to store it for emergency energy. So just eat when you're hungry. Drink water when possible, speeds up metabolism and means you stay fuller for longer. It never has to be healthy for results... I'm not suggesting this as it's only an example, but bodybuilders have terrible diets and stay in 'good' (questionable choice of words, but thin and defined is their aim so whatever) form. The general idea is that if you burn off the energy from your meal, your body will burn it's fat stores as a replacement, fat contains a lot of energy so it takes a while for results. Just stick to a plan and keep away from the scales for a while. People who constantly check progress fail in losing weight, they lose some, then think hey that was easy, I'll eat abit extra and it'll till go smoothly. So just avoid them for a wee while.

Carmondy · Accepted Answer

well to lose weight you have to burn more than you eat. So say you're on a 1200 calore diet (most people use that number when trying to lose weight), you would need to burn more than 1200. 3500 calories equals 1 pound. So just do the math. Writing everything you eat down helps a lot though. I would just suggest that you take your time. If you try and lose that much quickly you will just gain it right back. Losing 1 or 2 pounds a week will help you keep it off

ILoveCefalu · Accepted Answer

Rather than cutting food out of your life, just eat healthy foods and nix the obviously bad things for you. Workout fr half and hour to an hour three times a week and you'll get toned and loose weight. And it's more likely to stay off.

baseballbandfreak27 · Answer

there in lies your problem eating only 500 calories a day is a bad thing why your body is tricked into thinking there is a lack of food in the environment, therefore it produces fat and lower metabolism, which in turn you gain weight, ironic I know but its a survival instinct, try ways to get you metabolism and exercise then you will loose weight, not fast but more healthy

AllisonA · Answer

I would suggest seeing a nutritionist for more accurate answers to those questions.

Gregs · Answer

that's f***ing stupid, so you want to keep eating crap just less of it so you will lose weight?  awesome strategy there

Anonymous · Answer

Screw calories. Focus on portion sizes; if you are still hungry, go back for a little more. And don't eat when you're not really hungry.

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