Do you have to burn as much calories as you eat to lose weight?

Answer 1

Your baseline calorie consumption could be determined through some rather elaborate tests, but generally we all burn a certain amount of calories just "living", before we do anything. A lot of that is determined by muscle mass and muscle tone. If you get stronger and more "in shape", you'll burn more calories even when you aren't doing anything. Then we can exercise to burn MORE calories. The only way to really loose weight is to use more calories than we consume. If you go for a starvation diet, you just loose muscle mass, which slows down the rate of calorie consumption.

The best way to loose weight is to eat a good, well balanced diet, with plenty of protein and low sugar/low fat. Then exercise to keep the muscle tone.

Just as a general guide, your body will burn somewhere around 1,000 calories a day by just your heart beating, lungs breathing, maintaining your body temperature, and other involuntary functions. About another 1,000 calories are from a general lifestyle, such as you walking around the house and sitting down, getting up, and other basic common movements. So, bearing in mind that it will vary from person to person, if you eat about 2,000 calories a day, and live a moderate lifestyle, you should maintain your weight fairly well. Also, realize that a pound of fat equals to about 3,000ish calories when burned. So, if you eat around 1,200 calories a day and hit the gym with some hard cardio for about an hour, then you could possibly burn around 800ish calories, and thus have a deficit of about 2,000 calories for the day. This could let you burn around 3-4 pounds a week (remembering that everyone is different). Also, you should eat good foods that have high protein, moderate carbs, ect. Foods like canned tuna, oatmeal, eggs, any green veggies, fruits, milk, swwet potatoes, and whey protein powder are good foods among others. Just remember, start out moderate when you exercise and try to push yourself past a comfort zone each time. You will start to build endurance and become stronger and faster this way. Also, consult your doctor to find out what is safe for you to do nutrition wise and for exercise limits. To conclude, there are no real magical ways to lose weight without eating right and exercising. Remember, weight lose equals more calories burned than consumed. Period.

Answer 2

I started my own diet/exercise plan... I have never liked the idea of "sticking to someone else's plan" so I decided to just do what I thought would work based upon all my research.. I cut my calories to 1500 a day, and exercised 1 to 2 hours a day... I would jog/walk every day, and then lift weights fairly heavy every other day.. I am 23, and at the time I was 216 lbs at 5'10''.... My results were this:

I did not feel underfed... It was actually hard to put down my meals while drinking half my body weight in oz's of water... (216 lbs in half in ounces = 108 oz.. alot of water)... I actually felt pretty good the whole time, I was tired at the end of the day but def. because of the amount of exercise i was putting in, I did not feel unheathily tired at any point. I liked counting calories because I could still eat things that tasted good as long as in moderation, and with respect to keeping myself healthy... when only eating 1500 calories its very important to eat healthily otherwise you could really screw yourself up..

At the end of the 10 days I set for myself (which I helped reach by keeping a video journal at the end of each night, and a clipboard recording all my calories, water drank, exercise, and weight at the end of the day) I had lost 11 lbs.... Quite remarkable in my opinion, and the proof that it was not water-weight: 4-5 months later, I am 16lbs down... I did not gain any of that weight back after dieting, even after I ate somewhat poorly at one point.

So my advice is to try it, but the second you feel unhealthy stop. Diet's are specific to every different person.. No one will react to the same, so to take too many peoples advice can be just as harmful as anything... Do the most you think you can handle, but ALWAYS have it first in your mind to be safe. 1500 calories was enough for me, but i am not a big eater and never was.

Answer 3

Burn about 400 Calories After eating those 1700.




It depends on how much you currently weigh and how quickly you want to lose weight.


For a 185 pound person, it takes about 2000 calories a day to MAINTAIN weight.
There are lots of calculators online to help you figure out what your maintenance caloric intake is.


A pound is equivalent to 3500 calories. So you need to eat fewer calories and/or burn more calories to create a deficit in your calories in/calories out equation. This can be done more quickly by an extreme diet and lots of exercise, or more safely and sustainably by a more moderate approach.


If that 185 pound person wanted to lose 2 pounds a week, that means a difference of 7000 calories. This could be accomplished by reducing intake by 500 calories a day (down from 2000 to 1500) for a "savings" of 3500 calories per week, PLUS an increase in activity that burns 500 calories a day for an additional 3500 calories per week.


These numbers can be worked in whatever way you prefer. It is not recommended that anyone lose at a rate higher than 2 pounds per week without medical assistance. So think of what method would work best for you to save or burn 7000 calories a week. You could maintain your caloric intake and seriously step up the exercise or reduce your calories more drastically--whatever makes sense for you.


There are also lots of online lists of calories-burned for various activities too.

Answer 4

That depends on how many calories that your body needs in the first place and how much exercise that you are doing. On paper loosing weight can look this easy: Calories out need to be more then calories in. That would mean that if you burn more calories in a day then you consume, you should loose weight BUT you need to keep these following points in mind: - There is such a thing as cutting too many calories from your diet. Going below a "healthy number" of calories in one day can cause your body to react and go into "self preservation" mode. This means that if you don't eat enough, your body could think that you are starving it and react the opposite way that you want it to; by maintaining or even gaining more then your current weight. - Everybody is different and there is a "healthy" weight for you. It just may not be what you think it should be. In the end, it is best to talk to your doctor, a Fitness Professional or a Nutritionist for information and guidance before going on any kind of "diet"/ calorie cutting or even exercise program depending upon your personal circumstances.

Answer 5

depends, if youre used to consuming a lot more that 1500 you will start losing weight but you need to make sure your 1500 calories are filled with high protein low fat meals, and avoid high sugar content food and drinks as well. excerise goes hand in hand with diet. you should try some weight training to build muscle mass which helps burn fat quicker.

Answer 6

Depends how much your burning.

Which depends who you are,

Say if your a 16 year old male you burn 2700 a day if your moderately physical,

But if your a 40 year old female then you burn less,,, Maybe only 1600?

It all depends what you do and what your body is,

Try burn some calories aswell as eating low calorie foods,

High protein % food is good, Like fish chicken and meat,, All with high protein so you dont have to eat much before your stomach is full

Answer 7

When people say they want to lose weight, they mean that they want to reduce the fat on their bodies. Keeping in mind that fat is simply unused energy, to erase the fat, you must use up the energy. So to answer the question specifically, yes, you do need to burn as many calories (or kilojoules) as you eat to stay as you are and you need to burn even more than you eat to dig into the energy reserves of your fat, therefore losing weight.

Answer 8

No. Because then yoou are left with 1,000 calories still consumed. That is totally fine.

Answer 9

The question doesn't mean much until you know how many calories you're burning that day.

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