What it takes to lose 10 pounds

Everyone knows what it takes to lose weight. You must exercise and eat healthier. You lose weight when you burn more calories than you take in. It sounds simple. And in fact it is. I want to talk today about what it takes to lose 10 pounds.

One pound of weight is equal to 3,500 calories. If you want to lose 10 pounds, you must create a deficit of 35,000 calories (3500 X 10). The healthy way to do this is to lose 1-2 pounds per week. So in my example of trying to lose 10 pounds, your goal would be to do this in 5-10 weeks.

So let's say you make a goal of losing 1 pound per week for the next 10 weeks to get to your 10 pound weight loss goal. To lose 1 pound a week, you need to have a deficit of 3,500 calories. 3,500 divided by 7 days a week equals 500 calories a day. If you have a deficit of 500 calories a day for 7 days, you will lose 1 pound in that week.

So what do I mean by a deficit? Let's say you normally eat 2500 calories per day to keep your body weight steady. In order to lose that 1 pound for that week, you would need to either eat 2000 calories per day or burn an extra 500 calories per day through exercise. That would create a 500 calorie deficit.

The best way to go about this is to do a combination of exercise and eating less. For instance, only eat 2200 calories and then do some form of exercise that burns 200 calories. That would get you to the 500 calorie deficit also.

I mentioned in my last blog a online tool that helps track the food you eat and the calories you consume. That website is Myfitnesspal.com. The website is free to use and it will help you in your goal to lose weight.  I highly recommend it as a food journal and to help you create and track the calorie deficit that you need to succeed to meet your weight loss goal.

Good luck!!