How many calories do I need to burn?

Question

I'm 5'9" and weigh about 185 pounds, and I'm 21 years old. I'm not out of shape by any means, but I would like to cut about 10-15 pounds in the next two months to get back to the weight I was in high school. Combined with burning fat and adding muscle, how many calories should I target to burn daily? Should I cut all fats out of my diet or just cut saturated and trans fats?

Answer 1

Do calories matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body? You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about it.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip's "Body For Life," stress the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,

"There aren't many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting 'portions.' A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate."

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie - in the literal sense - can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It's one thing to count portions instead of calories – that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it's another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, "calories don't count" or you can "eat all you want and still lose weight" is a diet you should avoid because you are being lied to. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow.

Anything that sounds like work – such as counting calories, eating less or exercising, tends to scare away potential customers! The law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it's very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance. I also believe it's an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis – including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven't the slightest idea how many calories you're eating, it's a lot more likely that you'll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s "starvation mode" and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here's a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating "goal" for the day, including a caloric target.

Rather than writing down every calorie one by one from every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life, create a menu plan you can use as a daily goal and guideline. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal at least one time in your life for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your primary menu as a template.

Using this meal planning method, you really only need to “count calories” once when you create your menus, not every day, ad infinitum. After you've got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same – you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

For more information on calories (including how calculate precisely how many you should eat based on your age, activity and personal goals, and for even more practical, proven fat loss techniques to help you lose body fat safely, healthfully and permanently, check out my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle at

http://www.fightfatphilly.com/tom_venuto_fitness_articles.html

To learn more about building your best body ever, simply go to http://www.ChristianHealthandFitness.com to download YOUR FREE copy of ‘The Christian’s Guide To Maximal Fat Loss’ sample plan. You will also find some more great fitness tips from Matt Shuebrook at http://www.FightFatPhilly.com/articles.html and http://www.MyPhiladelphiaFitnessExpert.com

Answer 2

The average adult burns about 2000ish calories a day ( this is just by sitting around doing nothing). Burning fat and adding muscle at the same time is very difficult to do, most bodybuilders that I know just do one at a time. Reduce your calorie intake by about 400 a day but still eat high protien if you want to still keep muscle. 4000 calroies is about a pound of fat, so every ten days. You shouldn't cut all fats out of your diet just saturated and trans, you don't even need those anyway. Your body burns 2000 calories a day without even exercising, so exercising will burn even more. Good luck

Answer 3

It's well written humor, but the caloric quotations are WAY too high! Even the simple things. You'd be lucky to burn 1 calorie installing a condom. Read some caloric burn rate articles. You'd be surprised how few calories are actually burned for varying activities. Eating a hot fudge sundae could probably power the average sexuality for several weeks.

Answer 4

Your BMI is 27.3 which reads overweight *unless* you really have massive muscles. 170 wouldn't be enough, you might want to target 140 lbs instead (unless as I said your muscles are massive).

How many calories to burn depends on your body composition and your goals about it. Burning 1 lbs of fat means you need to burn 4077 calories, while burning 1 lbs of muscles means you need to burn far less.

If you need to burn fat, you will need to do cardio, not just burning generic calories.

Also, in order to burn fat you need to increase your basal metabolism or at least not to slow it down. Therefore, you can't eat less than an amount that is sufficient to feed your metabolism (for a link to a calorie calculator: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html ) because if you do it will slow down.

Depending on your body type, you might want to cut carbs, fats, or both. If I were you I would think about gaining muscles AFTER you lost some fat.

Answer 5

The simple equation for weight loss is to burn more calories than you consume.
Do not cut all fat from your diet. You need good fats for your brain, your skin, for lots of stuff. Get essential fatty acids from fish, nuts, seeds, olives, etc.
I must say it's nice to see someone with something close to a realistic weight loss target within a given timeframe.
Always remember, your real target should be good health, not just being thin. Fill yourself with good, whole foods, get plenty of appropriate exercise, and you can't lose :)

Answer 6

its not realistic, necessary, or even possible to cut out all fats. There are healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, nuts, etc. You should probably go for about 1800-2000 calories per day for how much to eat. Then get regular exercise. eat in moderation, not JUST protein, or anything drastic. Include lots of fresh fruits and vegatables, try for higher fiber items like whole grain pasta and bread, slow down on highly processed foods like white bread, and yes avoid trans fats, and eat lean cuts of meat, use lo fat dairy products. plan on losing weight slowly, its healthier.

Answer 7

I've usually heard and read that 500 calories a day is a good target. If you can loose 500 a day through a healthy diet and/or exercise you will loose 3500 calories a week, which is equal to one pound. That is a healthy, obtainable and safe target.

Answer 8

One lb. of body weight corresponds to 4000 cal. So to lose 10 lbs in 60 days, it's 40000/60= an extra 667 cal per day.

Answer 9

You should stay at about 2100 on the caloric intake. 6 meals a day with protein. Increase cardio. Good luck.

Answer 10

cut out on saturated & trans fat.don't cut out fat entirely but to a minimum. ur body needs fat for energy.