3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat?!

So lemme see if i'm getting this right......

if 3,500 calories equals 1 pound of fat, you would have to consume an excess of that many calories?

For instance (this didn't actually happen today I'm just making an example!) if I burned 2,000 calories today but I ate 3,500, I wouldn't gain a pound because I would have only eaten 1,500 extra calories. OR do you automatically gain a pound once you reach 3,500 calories in a day, no matter how much you burned. ALSO, what if you have a fast metabolism?!

thanks!

You got it.

So if you burn 500 more than you eat everyday for a week, youll lose a pound of fat that week. If, however, you burned and ate exactly the same amound, they would cancel each other out, resulting in no weight change over time AKA "maintainance."

If you have a fast metabolism, its probably due to exercising, which is already accounted for when you try to figure out how many cals you burn daily.

ok where are people getting this insane numbers from that they are burning calories 2000 a day? lol

I mean I go for a power walk for 30-45 mins which is PROBABLY about 300 calories I'm burning.  I know you burn calories doing daily activities but its really that high???

I eat about 1500 calories a day and I exercise 5 days a week for 30-45 minutes. How many calories am I burning and am I going to be able to lose 1 pound a week?

Depending on size and a few other factors, humans burn around 2000 cal a day just by being alive. Breathing, heart function, digestion, brain activity in particular all require calories- they are the fuel of your body's processes. I'm assuming that's what the people who are talking about burning 2000 cal a day mean. To burn that many cal just through exercise in one day would probably mean running a marathon!

The number of cal you are burning depends on what kind of exercise, plus your height, weight, sex and age- the calculators on this site will help you there.

Whether you will be able to lose a pound a week depends on a lot of factors, but it's a realistic goal. Again, have a look at the tools on this site to determine how many calories you should eat for this rate of weight loss.

thanks so much, everyone! I burn about 2,100 calories a day in total (being alive/being active - I rarely sit during the day because I'm jogging around the house cleaning, sprinting up a few flights of stairs, walking shopping at a quick pace, etc.) and yesterday I ate about 3,000 calories. I'm not trying to lose I'm just trying to maintain so I was wondering if I was still a-ok! Thanks again!

I second what everyone else says, in order to gain a pound of fat you need to eat 3500 ON TOP OF your BMR and exercise.

My BMR is 1800 Sedentary, I would have to eat 5300 calories in one day to gain a pound in one day. 

You could swim for 2 hrs and burn off 1400 calories ;)

you could ride a road bike at a 15.1 mph average over 1:30 and burn nearly 1,000 calories... or run a 10K race at a 10min/mile pace and burn around 600.

if you ran a 10K you would burn a lot more than 600 calories, my 4 mile run is about 500 burned

I think you have to be careful using equations though.  The human body isn't a calculator, and a lot of the time it doesn't react the way we would 'expect' it to.

3500 calories = 1 pound, when it comes to the science of it.

But, I'm sure many of us can speak on this - just because you burn off an extra 3500 doesn't GUARANTEE you an exact pound.

However, a good guideline to use, for sure.

Keep in mind that although 1,500 calories extra in one day won't gain you a pound that day. However, 1,500 extra each day for a week would be 3 pounds, or about 150 lbs. over the course of a year! Or at a much smaller level, only 30 extra calories per day will give you a 3 lb. weight gain per year, so it does creep up!

Nothing is "automatic" in the world of weight loss/gain. Weight does depend on calories, but also water intake/retention. Not to mention the mysterious way you can add 3 pounds over night (losing 3 pounds over night I can sort of understand, but gaining weight in your sleep?!).

If you're trying to maintain a weight, the most important thing to do is weigh yourself regularly. And meanwhile pay attention to portion sizes and calorie values, so that if the time to lose weight does come, you'll have a head start in your knowledge base.

3500 calories = 1 lb, PERIOD.

What that means is that if you eat two breath minutes per day (10 calories each) over your daily calorie requirements, you'll gain a little over 2lbs per year.

Alternately, if you go to the cheesecake bar and eat 3500 calories over your daily requirements, you'll gain a pound by tomorrow.

Counting calories is fun. :-)

i had 3000 calories yestaday coz i fell into a binge =( but even though it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound the scale hasnt gone up (yet!) but my stomach looks soooo bloated =(

Sonia, when I was marathon training, I would burn anywhere from 1500 to 2500 on my long days. Crazy, but it's possible.

And just to irritate all those starvation mode naysayers, I'd like to point out that my weight loss slowed considerably in that period, because my workouts were burning off calories so fast. My net caloric intake was above 1200, but just barely, and it wasn't enough. I was worried that I might gain after the marathon, but I have actually lost drastically with the increase in my intake. Right now, my net is right around 1600, and the pounds are MELTING off. :D

Mooo, weight gain and loss all depends on the NET intake. That means the amount you eat minus the amount you exercised today.

thank you i've been trying to find out how many calories are in a simple pound..a pound of what? ME! i'm 145, my eating habit is healthy enough to maintain.

started back with calorie counting on friday...took saturday off to party. back on sunday..i still didn't lose or gain. today...i went for a long walk and getting ready to do my meditation. it's rather physical.

so my total loss/gain for the day comes from the net value of what? the calories minus my energy output? am i getting it yet?

thanks