While fad diet and diet pill commercials promise fast and effortless weight loss, the most tried-and-true method of losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume. This becomes exponentially easier when you tally the calories you need to burn.
Significance of Calories
"Caloric balance" is a term used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explain what happens when you consume exactly the amount of calories that you burn in order to lose weight. To tip the scales, you need to burn more calories than you consume to see a marked difference in weight loss.
Caloric Intake
A pound of fat is equal to roughly 3,500 calories, notes MedlinePlus. In order to lose 1 lb. per week, you need to burn 500 calories per day through physical exercise and your current diet. To lose 2 lbs. per week, you'll need to burn roughly 1,000 calories less each day if you don't change your diet.
Strategy for Weight Loss
While you can simply rely on physical activity in order to burn calories, using exercise in conjunction with a healthier, low-calorie diet is even more effective. Exercise alone may not be enough to burn the 500 to 1,000 calories per day necessary, so eat a diet rich in low-calorie, highly-nutritious foods that fuel your body as you exercise and lose weight.
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