Burn 3,500cals = Always 1lb loss?

niknak2308
niknak2308 Posts: 315 Member
edited November 7 in Fitness and Exercise
Just wondering... so if a lb of fat is equal to 3,500cals, does that mean that if I burned that much tonight and then weighed myself
I would be a lb lighter straight away?

I have a weighin tomorrow and was wondering how much impact a heavy session tonight may have.
Thanks :wink:

Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Just wondering... so if a lb of fat is equal to 3,500cals, does that mean that if I burned that much tonight and then weighed myself
    I would be a lb lighter straight away?

    I have a weighin tomorrow and was wondering how much impact a heavy session tonight may have.
    Thanks :wink:

    Weight loss is not linear, plus other factors come into play such as hydration etc
  • 709sherry
    709sherry Posts: 33 Member
    Just curious.... what would you be doing to burn that many caleries in one night?
  • judgejava
    judgejava Posts: 88
    Just wondering... so if a lb of fat is equal to 3,500cals, does that mean that if I burned that much tonight and then weighed myself
    I would be a lb lighter straight away?

    I have a weighin tomorrow and was wondering how much impact a heavy session tonight may have.
    Thanks :wink:

    3500 calories is one pound of weight, not necessarily fat.

    If you burned 3500 calories during a workout (which by the way would need to be something similar to a marathon or more ;-)....then yes on the scales you would lose weight but alot of it would be water weight, you would probably be lose 3 or maybe 4, but then that would come back on with food and water and then fall off again overtime etc.

    That is why your weight fluctuates all the time.

    However yes if you did a heavy calorie burn tonight you may weight less tomorrow, depending on consumption of food and water between workout and weigh in.

    Example. i ran 8 miles yesterday morning and after my run i was 4 lbs lighter than before i ran, and i eaten a big bowl of porridge before my run etc.

    But it evens out with hydration and food

    please dont say you are gonna workout then eat nothing until the weigh in, that is not how it works.

    And also if it is MFP weigh in, dont worry about it, things take time and often you will gain before losing.

    Cheers
  • mgdiock
    mgdiock Posts: 26 Member
    Not exactly. Every body type is different. I would think it depends on your metobolic rate, weigh, height, gender, and consumption of other claories throughout the day.
  • 709sherry
    709sherry Posts: 33 Member
    Ok, I re-read your post and understand what you were asking now. The forum won't allow me to delete my post!
  • niknak2308
    niknak2308 Posts: 315 Member
    Wow thanks for the quick replies!

    I'm not asking as that's what I intend to do, I assure you lol! If only I had the motivation to aim for that haha :laugh:
    I normally eat back all my exercise cals anyway as that seems to be working for me, but I was just curious as to what impact it *could* have.

    I think I understand better now you explain it as 1lb of overall weightloss, not strictly just fat being burned.

    Thank you!
  • Horskrzy
    Horskrzy Posts: 71 Member
    There's absolutely no rule that applies "across the board" on this one! For example. I've burned 4289 calories in the past 5 days and lost 4.5 pounds which works out to 953 calories per pound lost. Now the previous 5 days I burned 3611 calories and lost just 1.9 pounds, or 1900 calories per pound lost. The total calorie intake difference between the 1.9 period and the 4.5 period was 448 calories.

    If anyone has a formula for this one I'll be impressed! :huh:

    p.s. It's how the clothes fit and how you FEEL that really tells you how you're doing!! :bigsmile:
  • Maggie_Pie1
    Maggie_Pie1 Posts: 322 Member
    I think it's more of a rule of thumb, but not necessarily always true.

    I think if you were to burn one lb of fat, it would transfer to 3500 calories of energy.
    But when we have a calorie deficit, we don't always burn fat for energy, sometimes we burn lean muscle mass. Now, the question is - if you burn one lb of lean muscle mass, does it generate 3500 calories of energy, or less? I'm guessing more, since 1 gram of protein (4 calories) has less energy than 1 gram fat (9 calories), so to burn 3500 calories, you would need more grams of lean muscle mass.


    So, i think when you calculate your energy expended doing exercise, it's misleading to say that I have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories for the week, so I lost 1 lb because you are probably burning some lean muscle mass as well as fat with that 3500 calories. Maybe you lost more because you burned some lean muscle mass in there too.
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