Drop 10 pounds in 30 days..the math behind it :)

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skyblu263
skyblu263 Posts: 91 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I posted this forum about a week and a half ago. But, for those that missed it. Here it is again :)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/807681-how-to-lose-10-20-30-pounds-in-so-many-months
"Hey you guys,
I'm HORRIBLE at math. So, when I finally found a website that actually broke down the numbers on how to lose weight, I was pretty thrilled!
My attempt in November to lose a certain amount failed. I ate horrible. But, I'm not discouraged, just disappointed. Time to try it again for December :)

Anyway, if you ever wanted to lose 10 pounds in 30 days, or 15 pounds in 50 days or whatever, here's the math :) I hope this helps those who have a problem understanding and just need the nitty gritty broken down:

The facts:
3,500 calories equals 1 pound.

The math:
Let's say you want to lose 10 pounds in 30 days.
If 3,500 calories equals 1 pound and you need to lose 10 pounds you multiply 3,500 by 10. (3,500 x 10 = 35,000)
• You need to burn 35,000 calories in 30 days. How much is that a day? (35,000 ÷ 30 = 1,166)
• You need a 1,166 calorie deficit a day to make your goal
{Note: If you want to lose 15 pounds in 45 days or 22 pounds in 60 days, just replace the numbers.}

Now that you have that number, figure out how many calories you will be taking in for that 30 day period.
Let's say you decided to take in 1,400 calories a day.
The math here is add the deficit (1,166) to your daily calorie intake 1400: so, (1400 + 1166 = 2,566)
• You need to burn 2,566 calories a day to make your goal.

The great news! People burn TONS of calories a day just by breathing, driving a car, etc.

So, what's next?

Figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) so you know what you need to really burn through exercise alone.
Let's say your BMR is 1800. Here is what you need to burn through exercise alone...the math: (2566 - 1800 = 766)
• You would need to burn 766 calories a day through exercise of whatever kind in order to lose 10 pounds in 30 days.

Something to remember:
This is only math and calories. This is not taking into account hard core workouts like high intensity interval training. So, if you go on the treadmill and stayed on it until you burned 766 calories (if that was your end number) you'd lose your 10 pounds in 30 days.

*Weightlifting adds muscle and muscle burns even MORE calories :D

By the way, for those not familiar with BMR or how to find out yours, My Fitness Pal has a calculator:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Hope this helps! It definitely helped me and made me feel TONS better to know what I just need to do. Now, if only I just get my butt in gear and do it! lol!"
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Replies

  • isisbryan
    isisbryan Posts: 105 Member
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    bump
  • curvycarrie
    curvycarrie Posts: 56 Member
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  • Jem97
    Jem97 Posts: 54
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    you would want to find your TDEE not BMR for this, but otherwise pretty much how it works
  • plynn54
    plynn54 Posts: 912 Member
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    thanks
  • noogie98
    noogie98 Posts: 414 Member
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    not at my computer but I want to read this later ~ thanks for posting!
  • kylieab1978
    kylieab1978 Posts: 1
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    That's awesome, thankyou.
    I have just started my weightloss journey and needed guidance with how much/how long to excercise each day and this is perfect.
    Thankyou!
  • Soosannah
    Soosannah Posts: 270 Member
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    Bump for later
  • afromullet
    afromullet Posts: 1
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    I was doing some thinking and doing some math, too -- since we know protein is 4 cals per gram, and I'm assuming muscle is mostly protein (not sure, bu this seems to make sense), and fat is 9 cals per gram. So 3500 cals about equals a pound of fat (~450 grams == 1 lb -- its actually close to 4000 so I dont know where the extra 500 comes from). ~1800 cals is a lb of muscle (again assuming it is all protein; there is likely some water in there too so this is probably a high estimate). I predict that you can and likely will lose weight faster than your cal deficit predicts because you will likely lose lean muscle mass (unless you are strength training) and some water weight as well. Not sure if this is good news. I do think it fits what I have witnessed.
  • terijoestoes
    terijoestoes Posts: 205 Member
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  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
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    I was doing some thinking and doing some math, too -- since we know protein is 4 cals per gram, and I'm assuming muscle is mostly protein (not sure, bu this seems to make sense), and fat is 9 cals per gram. So 3500 cals about equals a pound of fat (~450 grams == 1 lb -- its actually close to 4000 so I dont know where the extra 500 comes from). ~1800 cals is a lb of muscle (again assuming it is all protein; there is likely some water in there too so this is probably a high estimate). I predict that you can and likely will lose weight faster than your cal deficit predicts because you will likely lose lean muscle mass (unless you are strength training) and some water weight as well. Not sure if this is good news. I do think it fits what I have witnessed.

    Adipose tissue is not 100% fat. To quote http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/adipose/adipose.html :

    "Approximately 60 to 85% of the weight of white adipose tissue is lipid, with 90-99% being triglyceride. Small amounts of free fatty acids, diglyceride, cholesterol, phospholipid and minute quantities of cholesterol ester and monoglyceride are also present. In this lipid mixture, six fatty acids make up approximately 90% of the total, and these are myristic, plamitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic. Varying the composition of your diet can vary the fatty acid profile in adipose tissue. The remaining weight of white adipose tissue is composed of water (5 to 30%) and protein (2 to 3%)."

    Human muscle is about 16-21% protein.

    Since the variability between people (and cells within the same person) make it impossible to determine the exact caloric value without dissection (and in the case of muscle, even the dissection method uses estimates since separating fat from within muscle fibre is too difficult), and the math to do it is too complex for me, I trust the averages of 3,500 kilocalories per pound of fat and 600 kilocalories per pound of muscle.

    ETA: That is for losses and gaining fat, I'm not sure what the averages are for regaining muscle and gaining muscle. 2,500 kilocalories seems to be touted for bulking, but I think that is the "pound of muscle plus some fat gain that you'll later lose when cutting" figure.
  • ShayTayJay
    ShayTayJay Posts: 3
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    Ooh thank god . Youre a blessing . Finally ! I understand ! Those examples was great . Thank you :-)
  • becausemexico
    becausemexico Posts: 20 Member
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    i've never had it explained like that before, but it's really interesting. thanks!
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    Smacks of effort. Pass. :drinker:
  • neng00
    neng00 Posts: 2
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    bump
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    *Weightlifting adds muscle and muscle burns even MORE calories :D

    The odds of adding meaningful muscle while in a 1000 calorie deficit are very small. Beyond that, extra muscle burns a very small number of extra calories.

    Best to ignore that effect altogether.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
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    so for my numbers: that would result in 'only' 260 min of exercise a day ... clearly I have nothing else to do :laugh:
  • Lifeisgood4
    Lifeisgood4 Posts: 120 Member
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  • chai613
    chai613 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks very much for this post. I'm going to start putting it to good use! I'll keep you posted..literally.
  • YourThoughtsCreateYourDestiny
    YourThoughtsCreateYourDestiny Posts: 10 Member
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    This is very helpful. I figured I needed to do more exercise since I have neither loss nor gained much weight in a little while. Based on my calculations I am only off approx. 350 calories burned from exercise a day. That's not too bad, I just have to switch the type of exercise I do so that can get more bang for my buck given the amount of time I have to exercise each day. See...easy as pie....if I survive! :wink:
  • chelljo12
    chelljo12 Posts: 187 Member
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