Calorie count in one pound of fat

cgvet37

I was bored, so I decided to do some research. From what I could find, one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, you would have to eat at a 500 calorie deficit daily, to loose one pound per week. Of course, that does not include calories burned throughout the day. Some studies disagree with said findings. I found it interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts, research, etc.

yarwell

A pound of weight loss is often linked to a calorie deficit other than 3500 in part due to the variable composition of the weight loss (or gain)

lemurcat12

cgvet37 wrote: »

I was bored, so I decided to do some research. From what I could find, one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, you would have to eat at a 500 calorie deficit daily, to loose one pound per week. Of course, that does not include calories burned throughout the day. Some studies disagree with said findings. I found it interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts, research, etc.

This is what MFP uses to set the deficits. (All based on estimates, of course.)

moe0303

Yeah, what ^ she said, especially the estimated part.

Another interesting thing is that 1lb = about 454g which, if fat is 9 calories per gram, would be over 4000 calories. I believe the difference accounts for water content of the fat.

Jruzer

When I took a class in exercise physiology as an undergraduate, back in the the late 1980's, they told us that the number was 3800 kcal/lb.

I can't help but wonder: does everyone uses 3500 because it's divisible by 500 and 7?

msf74

3,600 cals per pound of white adipose tissue according to Lyle:

WAT in humans is composed primarily (anywhere from 80 to 95%) of lipid. By lipid, I mean stored triglycerides (TG) which are simply a glycerol molecule bound to three free fatty acid (FFA) chains. The remaining part of the fat cell is comprised of a little bit of water as well as all of the cellular machinery needed to produce the various enzymes, proteins, and products that fat cells need to do their duty. As it’s turning out, fat cells produce quite a bit of stuff, some good, some bad, that affects your overall metabolism.

For the record, one pound of fat is 454 grams and let’s assume 90% lipid on average. So about 400 or so grams are actual stored TG. When burned by the body, one gram of fat provides 9 calories so 400 grams of fat contains about 3600 calories of stored energy. Now you know where the old axiom of ~3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat comes from.

From here: The Energy Balance Equation

moe0303

Jruzer wrote: »

When I took a class in exercise physiology as an undergraduate, back in the the late 1980's, they told us that the number was 3800 kcal/lb.

I can't help but wonder: does everyone uses 3500 because it's divisible by 500 and 7?

Probably. If you're dealing with estimates, you might as well use numbers that are easy to compute quickly.

yarwell

You could read the high priest of calorie maths on the subject http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376744/

The red line is 3500 cals/lb and he uses an approach based on the composition of the fat loss with 4290 cal/lb for fat and 825 for not-fat

Christine_72

One day I'll make an effort to learn how to read your graphs @yarwell :blushing:

yarwell

thought you might appreciate the units on those

B ) tells me that overweight & obese women are pretty close to 3500 kcals/lb of loss.

A) suggests that lean people bottom left with 5-20 kg of fat in total initially need a smaller calorie deficit to achieve a lb of weight loss - about 2400 kcal/lb loss as there's more non-fat in their loss than in the obese women on the upper right.

Jruzer

yarwell wrote: »

You could read the high priest of calorie maths on the subject http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376744/

Thanks for posting this, @yarwell. It was one of the most informative things I've read on MFP.

JeromeBarry1

That's the foundation of CICO. Once you know your TDEE, after you accurately measure and slavishly document your intakes and expenditures of energy, you calculate your daily calorie deficit or surplus. Add those daily numbers up and when they get to 3500 total calories your weight changes by 1 lb. Mr. Sodium doesn't play by these rules, and he's always screwing around with water, so the scale can't always tell the truth.

bioklutz

cgvet37 wrote: »

I was bored, so I decided to do some research. From what I could find, one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, you would have to eat at a 500 calorie deficit daily, to loose one pound per week. Of course, that does not include calories burned throughout the day. Some studies disagree with said findings. I found it interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts, research, etc.

This is also an interesting read on the subject: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/

Carlos_421

cgvet37 wrote: »

I was bored, so I decided to do some research. From what I could find, one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, you would have to eat at a 500 calorie deficit daily, to loose one pound per week. Of course, that does not include calories burned throughout the day. Some studies disagree with said findings. I found it interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts, research, etc.

Actually, it does. A calorie burned is a calorie burned.

afost130

I do believe that the 1 lb of fat refers to energy calories, which is different than food calories.

applsz76

That is correct. In dietary intake 1g of fat = 9kcal. 1g of carb or protein = 4kcal. 1g of alcohol = 7kcal. 3500kcal is the measurement for 1lb of fat. Create a dietary deficit of 500kcal daily and you will lose 1lb in a week of stored bodyfat. Look at your dietary fats, if you have room to cut them and still meet your recommended amounts then cut those additional fat calories. Obviously alcohol is a no brainer, cut it out all together. Those are the 2 most calorie dense nutrients. As always make sure you have an adequate carb/pro/fat ratio and are meeting micronutrient requirements. Don't cut whole food calories to add supplemental calories. Plenty of fiber, water, and exercise!

mlsh1969

cgvet37 wrote: »

I was bored, so I decided to do some research. From what I could find, one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So, you would have to eat at a 500 calorie deficit daily, to loose one pound per week. Of course, that does not include calories burned throughout the day. Some studies disagree with said findings. I found it interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts, research, etc.

This is always what l was taught too.