3 Ways to Burn More Calories than You’re Eating

If you’re a victim of the Quarantine-15 weight gain, a combination of eating fewer calories and exercising to burn more calories is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off. Here are three tips on how to burn more calories than you're eating.

The first thing you need to understand is that one pound of fat is made of about 3,500 of extra calories. To lose one pound of fat, you need to create a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories. For example, if you wanted to lose one pound a week divide 3,500 calories by seven to get 500; that means negative 500 calories a day overall.

Here are only 3 tips to create a deficit of calories each day:

Tip 1: Eat Fewer Calories Than You Burn

Keep in mind that your body burns calories all day long as part of your basal metabolic rate (BMR), because it takes energy (calories) for your body to perform basic functions that are necessary for life (breathing, digesting, circulating, thinking and more). It’s important for you to know what your BMR is so you can estimate how many calories you burn in an average day.  In addition to that, you also burn some calories with normal daily activities like bathing, cleaning, walking, typing and exercising (which uses even more calories each day).

Simply taking in less calories each day means less excess calories you have to burn off. Easy ways to do this include: eating less fast food or junk food, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, eating lean protein, reducing the amount of bad fats consumed, and drinking more water.

Tip 2: Burn More Calories than you Consume

Burn more calories than you consume by increasing your physical activity. If you eat enough calories to support your BMR, but add more exercise, you’ll create a caloric deficit simply by burning extra calories. This only works if you’re not overeating to begin with.  Example: If you exercise more to burn an extra 500 calories each day, you’ll lose about one pound of fat in a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

You can workout more or just add more movement into your daily lifestyle. Some ideas: ride your bike walk rather than driving places, always take the stairs, move around at work rather than sitting a desk, play with your kids or dog, do squats while watching TV.  Get creative with your day, the possibilities are endless.

Tip 3: A Successful Combo

The fastest way is to combine eating fewer calories and exercising more. This is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off. It’s much easier to create a substantial calorie deficit when you combine eating less with exercise because you don’t have to deprive yourself so much, or exercise in crazy amounts.

Studies show that the combination of diet and exercise are compounded to increase weight loss more than the equivalent of one method alone. One theory is that the exercise increases metabolism which rev’s the fat burning even more. For example, if you cut 200 calories a day from your diet and burned 300 calories a day by exercising, you’d lose about 1 pound per week. Compare that to the other examples above—so you’re losing weight at about the same rate without making such extreme changes to your diet or exercise routine.

Key to Successful, Long-Term Weight Loss

The key to any successful weight loss is consistency. Over time your calorie deficit will add up and you will lose the extra weight. But remember to be accurate with your caloric intake and exercise because, after all, it is a math equation.

Weight-Loss Surgery

If efforts to lose weight with diet and exercise have been unsuccessful and your body mass index  (BMI) is 40 or higher (or 35 or more and you have a serious weight-related health problem, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or severe sleep apnea), you may qualify for weight-loss surgery. To learn more, visit our weight-loss surgery program page or call us at (310) 836-7744.