How Many Calories You Should Eat to Burn Fat

In order to lose fat you must expend more calories than you take in, which is called calorie deficit. You can do this by eating fewer calories or by increasing your activity level, or a combination of the two.

A general rule of thumb is to aim to lose 1-2 pounds a week. Each pound that you want to lose is equal to 3,500 calories. So if you want to drop 1 pound a week you must expend 500 calories less than you eat.

Determine the number of calories you need to eat daily in order to maintain your current weight and then subtract 500 and you have the number of calories you need to lose a pound a week.



You can figure out approximately the calories you need by multiplying your Lean Body Mass (LBM) by a factor that relates to your activity level. The factor ranges from 11 if you are sedentary to 17 if you are very active. This gives you a guideline but is based on a lot of averages.

You can add the calories your body needs at rest (BMR) to the calories you burn based on your activities...which requires accurate recordkeeping and looking up calories burned for each thing you do.

You can also get an electronic device that you wear that will calculate the calories you burn throughout the day.

Or you can keep a journal of what you currently eat and then just knock off 500 calories every day.

Finally, you can maintain your current eating and add enough activity to burn off an extra 500 calories a day. This requires you add an extra 30-40 minutes of vigorous cardio exercise, or an hour of more moderate exercising like jogging.

The actual time you need to burn 500 calories will vary depending on your weight, age, and how hard you are working out.

Choose whichever method works best for you don't try to lose too quickly. Keep a nice steady pace of 1-2 pounds a week by burning more calories than you ingest.



Find out more tips on calculating calories to burn fat at fitness expert Chris Cannon's Free Muscle Building Tips website. Download your free special report on how to build muscle and burn fat at: http://www.FreeMuscleBuildingTips.com.

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