I’m just confused on how losing weight actually works. So if I cut myself down to 1500 calories a day, I would have to burn like 2000 calories to lose weight? That just seems like a lot of exercising to me, especially because I’m juggling a job and highschool still. Could you guys explain it to me in a better sense?
In: Biology
In order to lose weight you need to burn more calories then your body needs. Your body consumes calories just existing. This is called your basal metabolic rate. (Your skin growing, heart beating, etc.) Any exercise and activity is a nice extra, but just exercising without considering diet is very difficult if not impossible. So, to lose weight eat less calories then your body consumes. Studies have shown we are overestimate exercise and underestimate our calorie intake.
Each day your body uses a certain amount of energy to keep you alive. That amount varies daily based on what you did that particular day. Played video games all day? Your caloric needs were lower that day. Hiked 10 miles? You caloric needs were higher that day. Also, the amount of energy you need depends on your body size. Taller people, for example, literally have more body to keep alive and thus need more food to stay alive than shorter people. You lose weight when the amount of calories you ate that day was lower than the amount of calories you burned that day. Your body uses stored fat to keep you alive because it ran out of the short term energy it was getting from that day’s food. It’s like running out of money in your checking account so you have to take some out of your savings.
please be careful with cutting down calorie intake too drastically, you can become ill, like have issues with your heart and hormones… i know it’s super tempting to do it all of a sudden so that you lose weight more quickly, but it is risky, so just be aware of that
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