Can You Lose Weight If You Burn Fewer Calories Than You Eat?

The relationship between calories and weight loss is fairly simple. Calories are a unit of energy that comes from food. Different foods contain different amounts of calories. Depending on your consumption of calories and the rate at which you burn them, you will either lose or gain weight.

Weight Management

Whether you lose, maintain or gain weight depends upon the balance between calories burned and calories consumed. If you burn fewer calories than you consume, you will gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume, your weight will drop. Burn and eat the same amount and your weight will remain the same. The best ways to lose weight is by instituting a plan that involves diet and exercise along with a balanced nutritional intake.

Diet

Dieting is the process of cutting back the number of calories you eat so that it is less than the number of calories you burn. By consuming 500 fewer calories than you need per day, you can lose 1 lb. per week. You can create caloric deficits through dieting by choosing foods that are lower in fat. Fat contains 9 calories per gram whereas protein and carbohydrates, the other two sources of calories, only contain 4 calories per gram.

Exercise

Regular exercise can help speed up your metabolism to burn significant amounts of calories, in addition to the calories you burn through normal daily body functions. Exercising 3 to 5 days per week for at least 20 minutes per session can increase the effectiveness of your dieting and help you lose weight faster. The exact amount of calories burned will depend on the intensity and duration of your specific workout. The key to exercising for weight loss is sustained activity, such as running, bicycling or swimming.

Balanced Nutrition

When cutting calories through diet and adding exercise to your regular routine, it is important to sustain a diet of balanced nutrition. The metabolic processes that are responsible for burning calories and helping you lose weight are dependent on essential vitamins and nutrients found in the foods you eat. The USDA recommends daily servings of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy in order to fulfill those essential nutrition requirements.