How does the 3500 calorie = a pound work?

[mistycatt]

Hi, I know this may sound stupid,

but I know that 3500 calories equals one pound? So does that mean in one day if you eat 3500 plus you gain a pound? (For a person who does not excercese) or is it calories you eat that goes over what you need daily


Sorry for the silly questions!

[maverick]

the second one.

[Lady C]

Yes, the second one.

Keep in mind the reverse works too. You have to burn 3500 calories over what it takes to maintain to LOSE one pound.

[mistycatt]

How do you find out what your daily intake is?

[Maxgain]

Originally Posted by mistycatt

Hi, I know this may sound stupid,

but I know that 3500 calories equals one pound?

remember thats for fat only a pound of muscle is a lot less.

[Lady C]

Originally Posted by mistycatt

How do you find out what your daily intake is?

Mostly trial-n-error. There are formulas for estimating.

What are your stats and goals?

[climber511]

Originally Posted by mistycatt

Hi, I know this may sound stupid,

but I know that 3500 calories equals one pound? So does that mean in one day if you eat 3500 plus you gain a pound? (For a person who does not excercese) or is it calories you eat that goes over what you need daily


Sorry for the silly questions!

Actually - it doesn't seem to work quite like that at all. The 3500 number is a lab figure - the body doesn't seem to be 100% efficient with calories depending or your metabolism and the type of food consumed etc. Actually, if that was absolutely true, we'd all probably go up and down much more than we really do. It's actually a pretty complicated question that I hope someone can give us a lot better answer to.

[.V.]

Originally Posted by Climber511

It's actually a pretty complicated question that I hope someone can give us a lot better answer to.

This is about the best answer there is.

Originally Posted by Lady C

Mostly trial-n-error. There are formulas for estimating.

Use a calculator or formula to estimate your needs - then to cut use slightly less food and see if you are losing, adjust according to results. Same for gaining. Most people would be safe with 250-500 calories/day either direction to start with and adjust closely.

Cutting calories are very often 10-14 calories/lb, bulking calories are often 15-20 calories/lb. However, some people would obviously need more, some less. That's why I like LC's answer so much. Estimate, then experiment and see how your body responds best.

[TommyL]

sdf

[Lady C]

I found this and thought it would be helpful for some.

Originally Posted by Tom Venuto

Calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit

• 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).
  
• But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.
  
• The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calrie deficit.
  
• Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.
  
• Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate extremely low calorie diets better than already lean people).
  
• Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.
  
• whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss.
  
• The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable eneregy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.
  
• If you lose lean body mass then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.
  
• If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.
  
• But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you mangage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter's Dunce cap).
  
• If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you will need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person!
  
• Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight.
  
• Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the "plateau"). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can't hack aggressive calorie reductions for long).
  
• Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat vs lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)

So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least on paper anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit
20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit
25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit
31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)
50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)


(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch & Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. What Dr. Hall's research is saying, is that there can be big differences between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.

If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative and you can also probably use a moderate to aggressive deficit more safely without as much worry about muscle loss, metabolic slowdown, etc.

If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get even leaner for competition, you would want to be very cautious using aggressive calorie deficits. You'd be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.

The long and short of it is that its not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut "depends".

[Merrida]

That has got to be the most well thought out, complete, and comprehensive answer to a question I've ever seen. Thank you Lady C for posting this information.