How many food calories equals a pound? (I'm talking weight gain here--or weight loss, but are they the same?)

Answer 1

they're the same .. and 3500 calories are equal to 1 lbs of fat.
muscle weighs more than fat, so I dont know the caloric make-up of 1 pound of muscle

Answer 2

3500 calories is equal to one pound of fat. You could lose one pound of fat a week just by dropping your daily caloric intake from 2000 to 1500. Add in exercise and you should be able to safely lose 2lbs a week, and that is the recommended amount to lose per week if you want to keep it off. If you do it too quickly your body will think its starving and will start to slow down your metabolism and hold on to fat.