Here's How Many Calories Are in a Pound
There are countless diets to lose weight, but they all rely on eating fewer calories than your body uses.
Generally, you need to eat less calories than your body needs to lose weight. If the number of calories you consume and use are roughly the same, then you'll maintain your weight. It sounds simple, but calories and weight are actually pretty complicated.
What exactly are calories?
Calories are units of energy—also found in food— that keeps our bodies running. We use calories to perform every function, from breathing to running. And whatever isn't converted to energy is stored as fat unless we use them by eating fewer calories than our body requires, according to the Mayo Clinic.
How many calories should you cut to lose a pound?
You've probably heard that there's 3,500 calories in a pound, meaning that's what you'll need to cut in a week to lose a single pound. That's generally used as an estimate, but weight loss is trickier than just eating 500 calories less per day. That idea was determined in 1958, but research has since shown that weight loss is more complex.
This is because you don't lose one pound of fat—which is what we ideally want—when you lose weight. Instead, you lose a mix of lean tissue and water too, meaning it might take more calories to lose a single pound of fat, according to Mayo Clinic. Some estimates show that there's somewhere between 3,436 to 3,752 calories in one pound of fat, reported Healthline. And as you lose weight, you might need to decrease calories further if you experience a weight loss plateau.
So how should you lose weight?
First, determine how many calories you're already eating per day by tracking what you eat and drink using an app like Lose It!, MyFitnessPal, or MyPlate.
Then, estimate how many calories you need to maintain your weight based on your activity level. You can use the Bodyweight Planner or read how to do this yourself.
Compare the two numbers and determine a reasonable amount of calories to cut each day. The amount of weight you can safely lose per week depends on a variety of factors, including activity level, starting weight, and genetics, but experts say it's best not to lose more than 1-2 pounds per week.
Keep in mind that muscle mass, hormones, and sleep also determine weight—so don't obsess over numbers.
"The idea of calories in and calories out is absolutely the backbone of weight loss," Bethany Doerfler, MS, RDN, Clinical Dietitian at Northwestern University, previously told Men's Health. "But metabolism and weight loss are so much more complex than that."
The most important thing is finding a diet that best suits your lifestyle.
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