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Losing Weight

Why One Pound Of Body Weight Is 3,500 Kcal

There is a bit of confusion about the difference between losing one pound of body weight and losing one pound of fat. Let’s look at the math.

How Weight Is Maintained

First we have to look at how losing, gaining and maintaining body weight work.

If you followed my videos about weight loss, then you know that there are two numbers that govern your body weight, the BMR and the TDEE:

  • The BMR (“Basal Metabolic Rate”) is the number of calories you burn when you do nothing, simply being alive. Some people believe that lying in bed all day doesn’t burn any energy, but even if you consciously don’t do anything, your heart still has to beat, your cells are being renewed and your hair is growing etc.
  • On top of this comes the TDEE (“Total Daily Energy Expenditure”), which is the BMR plus the calories burned for things you actually do. For example, washing the car, going shopping, working out etc.

If your daily energy intake stays below your TDEE, you will lose weight, if you eat around your TDEE, your weight will remain constant, and if you eat above your TDEE, your weight will increase.

If your TDEE is 2,500 kcal and you manage to eat only 2,000 per day, then over the course of seven days you lose one pound of weight. Because it takes a deficit of about 3,500 kcal to lose a pound.

The Math

Let’s now look at where the calories come from.

Fat, carbohydrates and protein are the three nutrients that provide the energy in what you eat. Their calories look like this:

  • 1 gram of fat contains 9 kcal
  • 1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 kcal
  • 1 g of protein comes with 4 kcal as well

And that’s where people say, wait a minute! One pound is 454 g and if 1 g of fat contains 9 kcal, that would be 4086 kcal – where do those extra 586 calories come from?

Not All Is Fat

The solution is simple: when you lose one pound of body weight it isn’t pure fat, but also the body structure that supported it, which consists of water, connective tissue and protein. As water doesn’t contain any calories, it is easy to see where the difference comes from.

Picture courtesy of Steve Snodgrass.

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Latest Comments

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5 Comments

  1. Ryan says:
    March 8, 2011 at 5:58 am

    One thing to complicate matters is that when you do bodybuilding or any other heavy exercise, you should eat about 0.8 grams of protein every day (exact range is in your videos of course). The reasoning is to provide a constant intake of protein for your muscles.

    But we count these calories towards the TDEE, when a certain percentage of them are not used for energy but are instead incorporated into your muscles and other body cells as part of the body’s structure. This is another reason why when you eat at your TDEE with this kind of diet, you will still lose fat, but not really so much weight.

    Reply
  2. Rubby90 says:
    March 8, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    Just do your cardio!! 😀

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      March 11, 2011 at 12:41 am

      Yup, either that or eating less or a combination of both.

      Reply
  3. Danny says:
    March 9, 2011 at 9:41 am

    Hey Evil!

    On that matter I’ve watched a video of Sean (UndergroundWellness) recently and I think it’s a complete joke:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djGCQ9b7mHo

    I’ve always believed energy in vs. energy out is proven by so many studies/individuals that there is no way someone can see it as a myth.

    He also talked about those two numbers in the video so you might give it a shot 😛

    Btw I really can’t think of anything else than eating at/below/above TDEE that influences weight gain/loss as much. If you’re not losing you’re obviously not eating below TDEE and if you’re not gaining you’re not eating above your TDEE (ignore muscle gains for now :P)

    Greets Danny 🙂

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      March 11, 2011 at 12:40 am

      He actually recently made an appearance on the forum:

      http://www.askscooby.com/losing-weight-and-getting-6-pack-abs/3500-calorie-1-pound-myth/msg378788/#msg378788

      Please note him asking for “science” to back arguments up 😉

      Reply

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