How many calories do I need to burn to lose an inch?

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Sherbear1109
Sherbear1109 Posts: 155 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So, I know there is no standard conversion for pounds lost or calories burned to inches lost, but I am stumped on setting goals for myself. I do not own a scale and don't have any intentions of tracking my weight loss by pounds. I just know how many inches I want to lose where. That being the case, I have no idea how many calories to set as my goal to burn each week. I would also love a place to track my inches lost. If anyone has some helpful advice on this, I would surely appreciate the sharing.

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  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I believe on this site there is a spot to put your inches in to track it.

    You cannot spot reduce so eating at a 1-2 lb/ week reduction is going have you lose weight and/or inches.
  • Sherbear1109
    Sherbear1109 Posts: 155 Member
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    Thanks. I'll have to see if I can find the measurements spot on here. I get that I can't spot reduce, but I would like to set a goal for calories to burn each week and have no clue how to do that, since I don't have a weight goal. Other than picking a random number out of thin air. Haha
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    tumblr_lm74ypXC1D1qii6tmo1_400.gif
  • lcroslin
    lcroslin Posts: 22 Member
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    Okay, I am not an expert, but the more I am on this website the more I'm learning. Determining your average caloric burn is important to be able to lose weight. So, you need to know what you are eating and what you are burning each day over a period of time and average it. I pulled this off the internet to give you a general idea of averages.

    How Many Calories Does the Average Woman Burn Each Day?

    Women tend to burn fewer calories each day because of their smaller size and different body characteristics. An average adult woman, weighing 130 lbs., burns about 1,600 calories each day while sedentary. If that same woman adds moderate activity to her daily routine, however, her calories-per-day rises to just over 2,000. As is true with men, heavier females will burn more calories each day that lighter ones. An average 160-lb. adult woman, for example, burns about 1,750 calories each day without exercise. With moderate exercise added, however, she'd burn around 2,300 calories.

    There are also Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculators available on the internet. The BMR will tell you what you burn just hanging around doing nothing but breathing. After you get your BMR, you have to add in your daily activity and exercise to determine what your daily burn. To safely lose weight I was told to only decrease that number by 300 to 500 calories per day. 500 would give you around a pound loss per week.

    At first I was just using this website and 1200 calories a day tracking. I lost weight but eventually I hit a wall. I purchased a Fitbit to see what I was really burning each day as I'm pretty active. MFP will work in conjunction with the Fitbit. By looking at my previous month's averages, I was able to determine that I needed to INCREASE my food intake. I'm now closer to 1500 a day and finally losing weight again. (Happy dance on eating more food going on right now! LOL)

    I hope this was helpful. Good luck. Feel free to add me as a friend if you are interested.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Options
    Okay, I am not an expert, but the more I am on this website the more I'm learning. Determining your average caloric burn is important to be able to lose weight. So, you need to know what you are eating and what you are burning each day over a period of time and average it. I pulled this off the internet to give you a general idea of averages.

    How Many Calories Does the Average Woman Burn Each Day?

    Women tend to burn fewer calories each day because of their smaller size and different body characteristics. An average adult woman, weighing 130 lbs., burns about 1,600 calories each day while sedentary. If that same woman adds moderate activity to her daily routine, however, her calories-per-day rises to just over 2,000. As is true with men, heavier females will burn more calories each day that lighter ones. An average 160-lb. adult woman, for example, burns about 1,750 calories each day without exercise. With moderate exercise added, however, she'd burn around 2,300 calories.

    There are also Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculators available on the internet. The BMR will tell you what you burn just hanging around doing nothing but breathing. After you get your BMR, you have to add in your daily activity and exercise to determine what your daily burn. To safely lose weight I was told to only decrease that number by 300 to 500 calories per day. 500 would give you around a pound loss per week.

    At first I was just using this website and 1200 calories a day tracking. I lost weight but eventually I hit a wall. I purchased a Fitbit to see what I was really burning each day as I'm pretty active. MFP will work in conjunction with the Fitbit. By looking at my previous month's averages, I was able to determine that I needed to INCREASE my food intake. I'm now closer to 1500 a day and finally losing weight again. (Happy dance on eating more food going on right now! LOL)

    I hope this was helpful. Good luck. Feel free to add me as a friend if you are interested.

    I'm sorry, but that's very general and not very helpful. I can lose weight eating 2000 calories and my mom would gain weight eating that many. If she just put her information into the calculator and set it to lose a pound a week it would probably give her a decent number. If she has less than 20 pounds to lose she could set it to lose half a pound a week and make good progress.
  • Sherbear1109
    Sherbear1109 Posts: 155 Member
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    Thanks again Thavoice. I was able to find the place for tracking my measurements here! It was in the check-in area. Very helpful.

    Thanks to everyone else for the interesting advice. Although, I think my question must be unclear. I am trying to set a goal for a number of calories to burn during my workouts throughout the week, not a goal for calorie intake. I eat fairly healthy and am just trying to recover my stomach after the devastation having my boys caused to it.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    Here's what method I followed to go from obese right after having two kids to having a nice stomach.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    Thanks again Thavoice. I was able to find the place for tracking my measurements here! It was in the check-in area. Very helpful.

    Thanks to everyone else for the interesting advice. Although, I think my question must be unclear. I am trying to set a goal for a number of calories to burn during my workouts throughout the week, not a goal for calorie intake. I eat fairly healthy and am just trying to recover my stomach after the devastation having my boys caused to it.

    Overall calorie intake vs calories burned (through living, daily activity and exercise) is the most important factor. I can't give you an arbitrary number to burn every day. If your body burns 1600 calories without exercise and you eat 1200 you will lose weight. If your body burns 1600 and you burn 400 through exercise then eat 1200 you would lose weight, but you probably would start to feel weak eventually and there's a good chance you won't stick with it long.

    You can't pick a calorie burn to target losing inches on your stomach. Losing fat is like trying to dry out a sponge. You can't dry a corner while the rest is still wet. Focus on overall calories in vs calories out.

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