The Math of Weight Loss

I am not sure if everyone knows this, so I thought I would share with you the mathematics of weight loss/gain.

Each day, you expend energy just because you exist. This is called your basal metabolic rate. You can actually calculate how many calories you would consume if you did nothing all day just based on your age, sex, weight and height. Here is one calculator. Of course, we all move throughout the day, so we add some calories for that, but it's not a ton. Exercise with an elevated heart rate is where you really get your calorie boost.

Now that you know your basal metabolic rate, you can add in the information that approximately 3500 calories equals one pound. So, to lose one pound in one week, you need to eat 500 calories less each day than your body consumes. No wonder it's so hard to lose weight! Conversely, to gain a pound, you need to eat 500 extra calories per day. That's about two cookies, maybe three!

Of course, there's more to it than just math, like nutrition, vitamins, fiber, etc. But, it's interesting to me to just see plain numbers.