Okay so I've been struggling with this "you have to burn 3500 calories in order to lose a pound, because 3500 calories is a pound of fat."

for the longest time I thought you had to burn 3500 calories a day...and I was like how the **** am I suppose to do that unless I got to the gym for hours on end and burned off everything I ate plus a whole lot of emptiness..

I know I'm a little dumb sometimes. lol

But did I just get this right.
So I eat 1500 calories a day and burn off 500 calories a day. By the end of my 7 days (a week) I will have burned off 3500 calories. Is that how it's suppose to go? or am I still confused as **** about this?

Can anyone give me some input on this?

yes, that is correct. That would be INSANE to try to lose a pound a day LOL.

Good luck

It depends. Were you eating 1500 calories a day and staying the same weight? If you were, then yes. But if you dropped your calorie intake when you started trying to lose weight, your actually losing the difference between that, and the addictional 500 calories

That's basically the jist of it. You work at it and have a deficit every day, and that adds up to the 3500 calories every so often.
Make sure you drink water like a camel. You won't burn fat if you're even 3% dehydrated, according to my doctor.
And another tip from him: take 2000mg of fish oil daily and it makes you burn 400 calories without lifting a finger. (I take it at bedtime to prevent fish burps)

What you need to figure out is your BMR. Depending on a bunch of different factors (height, weight, gender, and age) - these all add up to your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - your BMR is the amount of calories you burn just from living day-to-day, not factoring in exercise.

Using this calculator: http://health.discovery.com/centers/...sal/basal.html
I will type in your height, weight, and I'll estimate you are the median age for the 20-somethings forum (25). Using this calculator, your BMR is: 1,575. So this means you burn 1,575 calories per day just by living.

Let's add this number up the other factors you outlined before -
So you burn (1575) calories per day as calculated + an extra (500) for exercise which equals = (2075) calories burned per day. If you intake 1500, (2075 burned - 1500 eaten = 575). You will have a 575 calorie deficit (deficit being you burned x-amount of calories more than you took in) each day if you continue with this plan. (575 x 7 days per week = 4025 calorie deficit for the week, which is a little more than a pound).

BMR explains why it is becomes increasingly more difficult to lose weight as you lose. The less you weigh, the lower your BMR is - this means if you were to keep up the same 1500 calorie diet through your weight loss, your losses will get smaller and smaller with each pound you lose because your BMR will be lower. So as you lose weight, your calorie intake will need to decrease (or your exercise will need to increase) - but as long as your deficit remains around 500 per day (BMR+exercise, you will continue losing around a pound a week.

(BMR + calories burned exercising) - (calorie intake) = Daily Calorie Deficit
Daily Calorie Deficit x 7 days = Weekly Deficit
A weekly calorie deficit of 3,500 is needed to lose one pound.

Does any of this make sense?

*One thing to note is, the BMR calculators do not factor in lifestyle (calories burned by walking to and from work/school, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, showering, etc.) This BMR calculator also factors in lifestyle - sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, etc: http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

For purposes of explaining, I used to the basic calculator - but for a more accurate account of your daily calorie burn, I'd recommended checking out CalorieCount on About.com and using their sign-up to calculate your daily burn or the above-mentioned calculator. As a college student who walks to and from multiple classes a day, but also sits in front of the computer for long periods of time doing assignments and such, I classify myself as "lightly active" - just to be safe and not overestimate the amount of calories I'm burning.

With the BMR method, you can pretty accurately predict the kinds of losses you will have. Of course, your body will ultimately determine the loss for you, but BMR helps you hone in on the kinds of calorie in-takes and burns you should be achieving in order to lose x-amount of weight per week.

Phew! I hope that helps! Let me know if any of it was confusing.

Thanks guys!

Rapunzel - Fish oil huh, I hear a lot of people mentioning it...but I never actually got around to buying it! I'll check it out.

h4a5r - You helped me out alot! I had a friend mention the whole find out my BMR thing to see how many Calories I lose just by every day living but it was too complicated for me! lol you completely saved me a huge hassle which I did not want to go through :P you're a saint! Thank you! It made total sense too so thank you again for taking the time to explain it to me!!

Whaaaaat? 400 calories. Per day?

Glad I could help! I'm terrible at explaining things so I am happy you were able to understand what I was saying

Fishoil can burn calories?? Awesome. I know it has many other health benefits. I took it in high school to help with my ADHD. I should get on it again!

Wow...I just read your post [fish oil burning calories], I just went into the kitchen and popped one of those suckers...I keep "forgetting" to take them. Thanks!

Fish oil does not burn 400 calories per day. If it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

Some studies have shown faster weight loss in exercisers who use fish oil, but the 400 calorie thing is a myth.

h4a5r - oh I am too don't worry! That's probably why I understood you, because it's the way I'd probably explain something. hehe :P

Also I agree on the fish oil thing...Doctors aren't always right to begin with and burning 400 calories doing nothing if that were the case everyone would be thin in this world if half of the myth's we heard were true! lol.

Wow, what an awesome thread. I'm starting to calorie count again, and I never knew anything about BMR before. I've had calorie counters that show the difference of calories between maintaining and weight loss, but they all seem a lot higher than my BMR. I guess they factor in that I'm actually going to get out of bed.

Thanks for the link and explanation, h4a5r! I always don't know what to categorize myself as. I work at a desk all day, but in the evenings I'm always up working on stuff. I usually put sedentary just in case, though.

I think what rapunzel meant is 'up to' 400 calories per day. It does help burn calories though. I take mine at night or else I'll burp like I had sushi all day. yuck!