Weight Loss FAQ | 3500 Calories = 1 Pound?

[Dooga Blackrazor]

3500 calories equals about 1 pound. However, you can get 3500 calories and 500% of your daily fat intake. Does that mean you will gain more weight? As far as I can tell, you gain the same amount except you are gaining an unhealthy amount of your calories from fat (losing out on nutrients). Maybe I am mistaken.

Second question. I am a male 5'11, 175 (now 170) pounds. I am trying to lose a bit of weight. Last week I lost 2 pounds and gained 1 (ate an entire medium pizza) then lost it again.

Yesterday I mowed a lawn for about an hour and a half, had a 30 minute walk, and I walk/jog/ran 40 minutes on a treadmill. I also did about 5 minutes of weights. I ate about 1000 calories if I had to guess (but I drank a ton of water).

It is my understanding that you don't burn muscle when there is fat that can be burned. If this is the case, I am wondering how I could have lost so much weight in a day. I have been weighing myself almost daily and never noticed a change more than a pound.

 

[jim mcnamara]

1. you do not "burn" muscle unless you are completely deprived of protein, and then you also "burn" organ proteins as well as muscle protein.

2. You cannot pay attention to daily weight changes. If you want to lose weight, you can weigh yourself every day if you want, but it is the change over a longer period of time, like several weeks, that reflects actual weight change. This is because humans are largely water, and we can lose/gain liquid over short periods of time. The weight loss you saw was due to water loss. At 170 pounds it is possible to lose 5 pounds in several hours. If you do not replenish the water (rehydrate) the "wieght loss" may seem to stay with you for a day or two. Not rehydrating is bad for you by the way.