Posts Tagged ‘Weight Calories’
I hope you’re ready for this answer, because calories can be confusing. The term calorie has been abused by most in the weight loss business. Calories are often used as a unit of energy necessary to consume a physical weight in the diet world. But it’s original use was to measure energy to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.
So, how many calories in a pound of body weight? Well, first you need to equate to food energy, as an example, one gram of carbohydrate yields about 4 calories. Once you have that method down for just about any type of food item or substance, you can use that information to figure out how much energy has to be expended to burn or eliminate each calorie.
Sounds a little too technical for most of us, so the simple answer is 3500 calories need to be burned to equal a pound of body weight. That information was arrived at by using an equation and many tests on actual people. Since the just the calculation of calorie burning has too many variables on it own.
A case in point would be that an average person of average weight and activity would burn 340 calories in a brisk hour walk. But how many average people do you know? And how do you arrive at average when about 60% of Americans are overweight?
The variables for any given individual can be great. An athletic individual who often exercises can burn calories much more efficiently than a sedimentary person. Without risk to injury too. If many people went out and tried to run say 3 miles in 30 minutes, they may never get back. Where as a person who often runs, may be able to run 3 miles in less than 25 minutes and never get winded. Does a person out of shape burn more calories? Not according to most dieticians, they just have a higher risk of injury or worse.
There are other problems with equating calories to body weight. Calories of fat are worse for you than calories of protein. And items that may weigh the same don’t necessarily have the same amount of calories. So calorie intake is much different than “burning” or consuming calories.
An extra crispy ****** of chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken has 460 calories and 28 grams of fat. If you order the original recipe version it has 380 calories and 17 grams of fat. They weight the same, but the calories are different and the amount of fat is too.
In this example you would consume the same amount of physical weight, but the original recipe version has 80% of the extra crispy version. If you eat a pound of gravy or a pound of celery, which would have more calories?
So you can see that there are some issues with any kind of calorie intake to weight ratio. But when we speak of body weight and the amount of energy to consume that weight it does translate a little better. Because energy and heat have a close relationship the equation becomes more valid.
Most dieters that lose 1-2 pounds of weight a week are overjoyed. But let’s look at how many calories you would have to skip or burn to arrive at this number. Since each pound of body weight equals 3500 calories, we will need to reduce or burn 7,000 calories a week in order to lose our 2 pounds.
The going figure on daily calorie intake is 2000 (which is way to low based on all the recent figures but we’ll go with it for our example). So in a given week you consume 14,000 calories (that’s 2,000 times the 7 days) on average.
So you would have to reduce your caloric intake by 50% (14,000 standard minus the 7,000 to cut back). That would put you at 1,000 calories a day intake, which is borderline on possible health issues by most dieticians. That would give you about 350 calories per meal with some low cal snacks in between meals.
Or you could exercise enough in the given week to burn an additional 7,000 calories. Based on average size and weight, here’s a few different types of exercise and what it takes to burn 7,000 calories. This is the amount per week.
– 7 hours of rope jumping
– 4.75 hours of running at least at 4-5 mph
– 7 hours of swimming at 150 yards per minute
– 8.75 hours of playing tennis
– 8.5 hours of riding a bike at 10 mph
The best method would probably be a combination of reducing your intake and doing some exercise in order to achieve 1000 calories diet per day. Even then it would definitely be a lifestyle change and would take some dedicated effort for weight loss of 2 pounds per week.
So the 3500 calories to a pound of body weight is a guild line and may be slightly different in each individual. It does give you a working amount to measure against reducing or burning calories to your diet and weght loss goals. Counting calories that you eat or burn through exercise accurately is pretty difficult so don’t worry about 5% either way.
By: John Dow
About the Author:
So, how many calories in a pound of body weight? Well, first you need to equate to food energy, as an example, one gram of carbohydrate yields about 4 calories. Once you have that method down for just about any type of food item or substance, you can use that information to figure out how much energy has to be expended to burn or eliminate each calorie.
Sounds a little too technical for most of us, so the simple answer is 3500 calories need to be burned to equal a pound of body weight. That information was arrived at by using an equation and many tests on actual people. Since the just the calculation of calorie burning has too many variables on it own.
A case in point would be that an average person of average weight and activity would burn 340 calories in a brisk hour walk. But how many average people do you know? And how do you arrive at average when about 60% of Americans are overweight?
The variables for any given individual can be great. An athletic individual who often exercises can burn calories much more efficiently than a sedimentary person. Without risk to injury too. If many people went out and tried to run say 3 miles in 30 minutes, they may never get back. Where as a person who often runs, may be able to run 3 miles in less than 25 minutes and never get winded. Does a person out of shape burn more calories? Not according to most dieticians, they just have a higher risk of injury or worse.
There are other problems with equating calories to body weight. Calories of fat are worse for you than calories of protein. And items that may weigh the same don’t necessarily have the same amount of calories. So calorie intake is much different than “burning” or consuming calories.
An extra crispy ****** of chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken has 460 calories and 28 grams of fat. If you order the original recipe version it has 380 calories and 17 grams of fat. They weight the same, but the calories are different and the amount of fat is too.
In this example you would consume the same amount of physical weight, but the original recipe version has 80% of the extra crispy version. If you eat a pound of gravy or a pound of celery, which would have more calories?
So you can see that there are some issues with any kind of calorie intake to weight ratio. But when we speak of body weight and the amount of energy to consume that weight it does translate a little better. Because energy and heat have a close relationship the equation becomes more valid.
Most dieters that lose 1-2 pounds of weight a week are overjoyed. But let’s look at how many calories you would have to skip or burn to arrive at this number. Since each pound of body weight equals 3500 calories, we will need to reduce or burn 7,000 calories a week in order to lose our 2 pounds.
The going figure on daily calorie intake is 2000 (which is way to low based on all the recent figures but we’ll go with it for our example). So in a given week you consume 14,000 calories (that’s 2,000 times the 7 days) on average.
So you would have to reduce your caloric intake by 50% (14,000 standard minus the 7,000 to cut back). That would put you at 1,000 calories a day intake, which is borderline on possible health issues by most dieticians. That would give you about 350 calories per meal with some low cal snacks in between meals.
Or you could exercise enough in the given week to burn an additional 7,000 calories. Based on average size and weight, here’s a few different types of exercise and what it takes to burn 7,000 calories. This is the amount per week.
– 7 hours of rope jumping
– 4.75 hours of running at least at 4-5 mph
– 7 hours of swimming at 150 yards per minute
– 8.75 hours of playing tennis
– 8.5 hours of riding a bike at 10 mph
The best method would probably be a combination of reducing your intake and doing some exercise in order to achieve 1000 calories diet per day. Even then it would definitely be a lifestyle change and would take some dedicated effort for weight loss of 2 pounds per week.
So the 3500 calories to a pound of body weight is a guild line and may be slightly different in each individual. It does give you a working amount to measure against reducing or burning calories to your diet and weght loss goals. Counting calories that you eat or burn through exercise accurately is pretty difficult so don’t worry about 5% either way.
By: John Dow
About the Author:
If you are looking for fast and easy ways to help you lose weight, you will find diet reviews, weight loss tips, calorie counters, and more if you click here: Diet Plans
The number of people who are overweight really is at epidemic proportions, and the situation is at its worst in the US. In the United States, it’s believed that sixty-six percent of people are overweight. In actual numbers, that’s two of three people. As a gross, the number is in the hundreds of millions. With that many people overweight, there are plenty of opportunities to discuss and or promote various weight loss methods.
One word that gets thrown about a lot when talking about weight loss is metabolism. Metabolism has become a generic term to a degree, but the guess here is that most people aren’t genuinely aware of what metabolism refers to: simply that it has some role in a person’s body weight. Metabolism is actually a set of chemical reactions that occur within living cells. Metabolism in fact allows cells to grow and reproduce. Referring to the term metabolism when talking about body weight regulation is overly broad. What actually affects body weight is calories, and more specifically, how many calories are consumed versus how many calories are burned in energy consumption.
Calorie is a measurement for the amount of energy a source of food gives the body. A food source with more calories provides the body more energy. With respect to calories, the adage of more isn’t always better holds quite a bit of truth. Calories that are surplus to what the body actually needs for fuel will be stored, as fat typically. The significant issue for body weight then is how much calorie fuel a particular body uses. The answer obviously varies. An infant will need less calorie fuel than an adult will. But averaging things out, calorie fuel usage is determined by how much energy a person expends. Energy typically takes the form of physical exertion. More calorie energy is typically burned in people who engage in regular physical activity than in people who don’t.
Metabolism enters the picture with respect to body weight by what’s called basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate essentially refers to the amount of caloric energy a person burns while at rest. This is influenced again by how physically active a person is on average. The more active a person is generally, the higher their basal metabolic rate. The term metabolism then is not entirely accurate when discussing body weight issues. The more proper reference would be basal metabolic rate. Still, the general notion that more exercise equals more energy burned is correct, and more energy burned typically equals a healthier body weight.
By: Zinn Jeremiah
About the Author:
One word that gets thrown about a lot when talking about weight loss is metabolism. Metabolism has become a generic term to a degree, but the guess here is that most people aren’t genuinely aware of what metabolism refers to: simply that it has some role in a person’s body weight. Metabolism is actually a set of chemical reactions that occur within living cells. Metabolism in fact allows cells to grow and reproduce. Referring to the term metabolism when talking about body weight regulation is overly broad. What actually affects body weight is calories, and more specifically, how many calories are consumed versus how many calories are burned in energy consumption.
Calorie is a measurement for the amount of energy a source of food gives the body. A food source with more calories provides the body more energy. With respect to calories, the adage of more isn’t always better holds quite a bit of truth. Calories that are surplus to what the body actually needs for fuel will be stored, as fat typically. The significant issue for body weight then is how much calorie fuel a particular body uses. The answer obviously varies. An infant will need less calorie fuel than an adult will. But averaging things out, calorie fuel usage is determined by how much energy a person expends. Energy typically takes the form of physical exertion. More calorie energy is typically burned in people who engage in regular physical activity than in people who don’t.
Metabolism enters the picture with respect to body weight by what’s called basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate essentially refers to the amount of caloric energy a person burns while at rest. This is influenced again by how physically active a person is on average. The more active a person is generally, the higher their basal metabolic rate. The term metabolism then is not entirely accurate when discussing body weight issues. The more proper reference would be basal metabolic rate. Still, the general notion that more exercise equals more energy burned is correct, and more energy burned typically equals a healthier body weight.
By: Zinn Jeremiah
About the Author:
Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. To find weight loss resources, visit weight loss help or weight loss program.
