Will I Lose Weight if I Work off 600 Calories a Day and I Eat 1600?

Will I Lose Weight if I Work off 600 Calories a Day and I Eat 1600?
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If you are overweight or obese, you may wonder how many calories you should eat and how much exercise you should do each day to lose weight. These estimates differ depending on your age, gender and daily physical activity. If you work off 600 calories and eat 1,600 calories each day, it is likely that you will lose weight, especially if you are an adult. However, set your weekly weight-loss goal at a reasonable level of 1 to 2 lbs.

Do You Need to Lose Weight?

Before you start a weight-loss program, determine if you actually need to lose weight. Weigh yourself using a scale and have someone measure your height. Enter this information into one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's BMI Calculators. If you are overweight or obese, it is important for you to lose weight to prevent disease and live a longer life. If you are underweight or at a normal weight, do not take steps to lose a significant amount of weight.

Energy Balance

To maintain a healthy weight, the amount of calories you consume in food must be equal to the amount of calories you use while performing activities. This process is called energy balance. Although the concept of energy balance seems simple, it can be difficult to determine the number of calories you should eat to either maintain or lose weight. This is because people have different levels of physical activities and different body sizes.

Calories Needed To Maintain a Healthy Weight

The National Institutes of Health provide estimates of the calories you need each day to achieve energy balance, or maintain healthy weight. These calorie requirements differ depending on your age, gender and the amount of physical activity you do each day. The National Institutes of Health define moderate activity as walking 1.5 to three miles per day and active physical activity as walking more than three miles per day. Use this site to estimate how many calories you will need each day to maintain your weight. To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories or exercise to burn off more calories than what is recommended for weight maintenance.

Calories Needed To Lose Weight

It is likely that you will lose weight by consuming 1,600 calories and performing exercise that burns 600 calories each day, especially if you are an adult. However, do eat enough food to meet your body's nutritional needs. If you are overweight or obese and are trying to lose weight, you should set a weight-loss goal of 1 to 2 lbs. per day. You will have to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. weight from your body. Therefore, you should try reduce 500 to 1,000 calories each day by physical activities and by consuming fewer calories in food.

References

Article reviewed by Jessica Lyons Last updated on: May 26, 2011

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