Do You Know How Many Calories It Takes To Burn 1 Pound Of Body Fat? 

By Ange Fonce


Let us first deal with “calories” and “energy balance”... do you know that when you eat and drink... you are putting energy... in the form of “calories” into your body? 

Your body then uses up that energy... and the more physical activity you do... the more energy in the form of “calories” you use.

To maintain a “stable weight” the “energy” you put into your body must be the same as the “energy” you use by normal bodily functions and physical activity... if there are some days where you put in more “energy” than you use... then there should also be days where the opposite is true... so that overall the “energy in” and the “energy used” remains in balance.

You “gain weight” when you “regularly put more energy” into your body than you use... over time... that “excess energy” is stored by the body as “body fat”.... most men and woman... eat and drink more than they need... and think that they are more physically active than they are.

Adults and children these days...especially in western societies... are putting far more “calories” into their bodies than they use... so growing “overweight"... and "unhealthy”... and have developed “bad eating habits” and “unhealthy lifestyles”... why is this?

Have You Heard The Term “Calorie Dense?”

Let me explain what "calorie dense" means...

Whether you want to lose weight... gain weight,...or just be healthy... the concept of “high caloric density” is an important one to understand... the “caloric density” of a food is the numbers of calories that are contained in 1 gram of that food. 

For instance... 

Brown rice has a caloric density of 1.2, which means that brown rice has 1.2 calories per gram... that is a relatively “low caloric density” food... most fruits and vegetables are... an apple has a caloric density of 0.59...  it has only 0.59 calories per gram... a carrot is 0.44...  a banana is 0.6... a potato is 0.76... by contrast... a rib roast has a caloric-density of 3.31... a chicken thigh is 2.12... a pork chop is 2.28.... processed meats such as liver worst 3.32... or salami... 4.20...  are even higher... Bacon is 5.56.

It is a little oversimplified... and in general foods from the plant kingdom tend to have “low caloric densities” and foods from the animal kingdom tend to have “high caloric densities.”

Why Is That Important?

Let us take an example... 

Suppose you want to “lose weight”... yet you are eating mostly “high caloric density” foods... what this means is that it does not take much of such “calorie dense foods” to give you a lot of “calories”... so if you try to cut down on the “calories”... you will not feel full... you will feel hungry...  and eventually that will cause you to break the diet and “binge”... gaining back whatever weight you have lost.

If you want to “lose weight”... the smart thing to do is to eat mostly foods of “low caloric density”... like “fruits... vegetables” and “grains”... not just as a temporary diet... as a “lifetime eating habit”... as in countless “epidemiological studies”... the “healthiest foods”... which are  “low caloric density”... are also the foods eaten by the “healthiest people.” 

And I should mention a very interesting phenomenon whereby foods of  “low caloric-density”... are transformed into ”high caloric density” foods... when foods get ground up or refined... meaning turned into “refined carbohydrates”... like  potatoes...which I mentioned before have a caloric density of 0.76 in their “raw state”... yet when they are ground up into potato flour and made into potato pancakes... the “caloric density” or CD... goes up to 6.51... wheat bread... where the grain has been ground... has a CD of 2.61... and “high density fats” often get added into foods made of ground up grains... t thus crackers have a CD of 4.46... and  corn muffins have a CD of 4.14... and so on... any “refined food”... increases the CD value.

In fact... corn provides a very good illustration of this phenomenon... corn as corn kernels or corn-on the cob... whether fresh or steamed... has a CD of only 0.92... you can eat a lot of fresh corn without gaining weight... as well as adding to your health.

Yet corn bread has a CD of 4.27... a taco shell has a CD of 4.55... and corn chips have a CD of 5.46... do you see the difference of what “refining” does to the CD value of “raw natural food”... and how it increase the “calorific density”...  you do not have to eat much of those before you have started “packing in the calories!”

In general... grains and all foods in general are best eaten and cooked in the whole state... besides the issue of “caloric density”... there are other issues... such as “rancidity”... as soon as a grain is ground... its germ is exposed to the air and it begins to go “rancid”... or the germ and bran are refined out... as in bleached white flour... in which case the food “loses nutrients” and becomes an "empty calorie" food... white bread.... white rice and white sugar are a prime examples of this... any kind of “nutritional value” which the body can make use of is “refined” out.

Calorie dense foods... such as “refined fats” and “refined sugars”... provide many “dense calories” in a small amount of food... and they are low or nil in “nutritional calories”... foods with “low calorie density”... such as  “fruits” and “vegetables”... provide "fewer total calories" and "greater nutrition" in a larger volume of food.

On the whole then... you will be healthier and trimmer if you eat your grains and foods in their whole form... such as when you cook brown rice or millet... or eat a baked potato instead of French fries or chips... this is only a subset of the more general principle that foods are “healthiest” in their “unrefined state”... that is when they are closest to the way nature made them.

Calorie Awareness...

Being aware of your “calorie intake” and your “calorie expenditure” is one of the first steps on the path to “weight control”.... having “calorie awareness” will “motivate” you to make modifications in your diet... and it will also “motivate” you to be more “physically active” and to make changes in your routine that will use up more “calories”... such as taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator... having “calorie awareness” will prompt changes that will get you to your “weight loss goal.”

Checking The Calories You Use...

The amount of calories you use is determined by doing a certain physical activity varies depending on a range of factors... including size and age... the more vigorously you do an activity... the more calories you will use.... like fast walking will use more calories than walking at a moderate pace.

Weight...

If you are “gaining weight”... it usually means you have been regularly eating and drinking “more calories” than you have been using through normal bodily functions and physical activity... to “lose weight” you have to tip that balance in the other direction... you must start to use more energy than you consume...and do this over a sustained period of time... you can do this by making “healthy changes” to your diet so that you eat and drink fewer calories. 

So Do You Know.... 

"How many calories does it take to burn 1 pound of body fat?"

It takes approximately 3,500 calories to make 1 lb. of fat... you can burn 1 lb. of fat by consuming 3,500 fewer calories than you normally consume... over a period of one week... that equates to consuming 500 fewer calories per day.

To get rid of "body fat"... you must burn more calories than you consume... you can accomplish that by “reducing” your “calorie intake” or by “increasing” your level of “physical activity”... or by doing both.... you can also burn 1 lb. of fat by keeping your calorie intake the same... and engaging in physical exercise that burns 3,500 calories. 

To have the “daily deficit”... a change in “eating” and “lifestyle habits” needs to happen... to “lose weight” the amount of “calories going in” needs to be less than the “amount of calories that is burned”... “exercise” is a great way to create a “calorie deficiency” because it makes the calorie burning process happen much faster. 

For example... 

Walking burns from 280 to 460 calories per hour... depending on how much you weigh and how fast you walk... if say for instance you weigh about 150 lb.... and walk for one hour every day for 7 days at approximately 4.5 miles per hour... you should will about 1 lb. of fat.

The best way to lose a pound is to lose it slowly... it will take you about a week to burn enough calories to lose one pound... the best approach is to combine these changes with “increased physical activity.“

3,500 calories seems like a large number to burn each week... yet do not let the big number scare you... take it steady and eventually the results of your hard work will start to show.

Thank you... and may you enjoy a Prosperous and Productive week ahead!

Yours Sincerely



Ange is International Peak Performance Psycho Dynamic Coach... and Counselling Psychologist who works with men... and women who desire to develop themselves and their relationships to become Dynamic Lifers from around the World!

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