It's not 3,500kcal/pound!!!

i like cake.

Your legs ARE cake!

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.[/quot]

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

Acg, thanks for the link, that makes much more sense. But even if we assume 90% lipids on average, that's closer to 3,700kcal than 3,500kcal. So someone who only has a 400kcal daily deficit would lose weight half a quickly as planned.

One minor comment I'd make is that even if we can be incredibly precise on the calorie burn required to lose a pound - the actual tracking of calories is based on estimates.... Someone's TDEE is only an estimate - Daily consumption is generally estimated - even for those who are disciplined (most people are not weighing every food item). And calorie nutritional labels are based on estimates and may or may not reflect that "serving" you just had... There is a risk in thinking we can make this too precise when we are using estimates of a person's daily burn to start with...

just my $0.02

I wrote an entire topic on that, can't remember the name of it.

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.[/quot]

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

Acg, thanks for the link, that makes much more sense. But even if we assume 90% lipids on average, that's closer to 3,700kcal than 3,500kcal. So someone who only has a 400kcal daily deficit would lose weight half a quickly as planned.

One minor comment I'd make is that even if we can be incredibly precise on the calorie burn required to lose a pound - the actual tracking of calories is based on estimates.... Someone's TDEE is only an estimate - Daily consumption is generally estimated - even for those who are disciplined (most people are not weighing every food item). And calorie nutritional labels are based on estimates and may or may not reflect that "serving" you just had... There is a risk in thinking we can make this too precise when we are using estimates of a person's daily burn to start with...

just my $0.02

I wrote an entire topic on that, can't remember the name of it.

Was it as well-researched as this one?

I think it was operator error.

PEBCAK

LOL... I thought I was the only one who knew what that meant. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Fairly well known by anyone who has worked in IT support I should think!!!