Stupid Question

No--but you do have to either consume less than or burn more calories than it takes to maintain your present weight.

They have a word for burning more calories than you take in--starvation. Sorry, couldn't resist.

It means that it would take 2580 calories a day to maintain your weight.

That also means that if you limit your calories to 1,580 calories AFTER exercise, you should lose 2 pounds a week. You would have a deficit of 1000 calories a day, or 7000 calories a week.

Make sure you eat your exercise calories--in other words, you must eat 1580 calories a day plus however many exercise calories you burn. And it looks like you plan to burn a lot on exercise.

Now, given your age and how little you wish to lose, I think you will find yourself a lot happier and healthier if you shoot for a 500 deficit per day, eating 3080 calories before exercise. The 1000 a day deficit is really only best for those with a lot to lose.

It must not be a stupid question because you are getting two different answers in two repies. To lose weight you do have to burn more calories than you take in. If you take in the exact number of calories that you burn in a day you are in energy balance - no gain no loss. you will maintain your current weight. If you eat more calories than you burn/day you will gain weight. It is called a positive energy balance and your body stores the extra energy as fat. If you consume fewer calories than than you burn you will lose weight.. This is called a negative energy balance...fewer calories ingested than your body is burning.

The widely accepted standard is that burning 500 more calories than you take in/day = 1lb./wk loss and a 1000 calorie deficit/day = 2lbs. Women should never consume fewer than 1200 calories/day and men should not go under 1600/day. But the calculations for each individual is based on their own metabolism and activity level. Some studies have shown that the body adapts to the 500-1000 calorie deficit by slowing down our metabolism. There are some that believe the best weight loss can be acheived with a 300-400 calorie deficit/day. The loss will be slower, but supposedly at this level your body is not as likely to slow down the metabolic process.

You need to go back and reread all the posts so far--your question has already been answered in the previous posts.