Can someone go through a weight loss calculation with me?

[fuzzybabybunny]

So I'm trying to figure out teh maths.

I'm 5'5", 149lb, male, 23 years old. BMI is 25, borderline overweight. I'd like to get to 140lb. There is definitely flab around my belly area.

BMR is 1666 according to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I'm just going to say that I'm sedentary, so BMR x 1.2 = 2000 calories for my daily calorie needs.

1lb fat = 3500 calories, so losing 10lb would need to burn 10 x 3,500 = 35,000 calories.

Losing 1lb a week would mean burning and having a 500 calorie deficit per day, right? So I would have to eat 2000 calories, and exercise off 500 calories a day to lose 1lb a week, right?

This is all assuming I'm eating the right calorie ratios for fat/carb/protein, that I'm getting plenty of protein to maintain my muscle, and that I'm strength training to maintain muscle mass.

But now I'm confused because there's the whole thing about heart rate and percent of calories burned that are from fat.

http://exercise.about.com/cs/c...rkouts/l/aa022601a.htm

If I did high intensity, 412 calories burned in 1hr, but only 164 calories are from fat. So if I want to lose 500 fat calories a day, I would need to do 500 / 164 = 3 hours of high intensity training a day?! That would mean nearly 412 x 3 = 1200 calories burned in all!

So, uhhh... I'm confused. To lose 1lb fat a week, how long do I have to exercise?

 

[EvilYoda]

So uhhh, when're you gonna update your site with pictures from this year? Or are they somewhere else. I'm bored, give me link.

 

[brikis98]

I can't remember who wrote it, so I apologize if I butcher it slightly, but here's a relevant quote that I like: "worrying about how much fat you lose during a workout makes about as much sense as worrying about how much muscle you gained during that same workout." In other words, for most people, you don't really need to worry about "the fat burning zone" or any of that jazz. Keep it simple:

1. Calories in < Calories out. From a weight loss perspective, it doesn't matter how you achieve a caloric deficit - so long as there is one, you'll lose weight. You could burn 500 calories doing slow, steady cardio ("fat burning zone"), high intensity cardio, weight lifting, or just eating 500 calories less per day. To your body, it all produces the exact same result: weight loss.

2. Maintain LBM. The one caveat to rule #1 above is that while a caloric deficit guarantees weight loss, that weight loss will consist of not only fat, but muscle as well. It's very tough to guarantee zero muscle loss, but you can come pretty close. To convince your body to primarily burn fat and maintain muscle, keep your protein intake very high (~1g per pound of bodyweight) and do strength training.

In my experience, if you follow steps 1 and 2, the "fat burning zone" and similar do not make enough of a difference to be worth considering. The fat you burn during a workout just isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things - it's really the total at the end of the day (or even the end of the week) that really matters.

 

[citan x]

While one lb of fat=3500 calories, there is no simple way to calculate how your body will use any 3500 calories you burn.

Trying to hurry messes everything up. While I think 1 pound a week is probably doable, that doesn't mean you should. More important is to change your lifestyle, or else you will end up where you started later down the road.

I would say get a scale, measure your weight once a week, and decrease your calories accordingly until you get a consistent drop in weight that still lets you keep control of your cravings. This entails keeping track of your caloric intake.

Also, specific weight goals I think are kind of irrelevant. If you don't like the fat around your midsection, then keep your caloric deficit until it's at an acceptable level. Whatever weight you happen to be at that point doesn't matter. (By the way, doing this correctly is hard work and I have never done it right so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. ha)

 

[eve]

i would only focus on one hour of high intensity training a day, keeping at 2000 calories in a day , more if you eat more, it will come off

 

[Safeway]

Getting one or two pounds off per week is easily doable. Exercise and eat correctly.