Calorie Counting:weight loss math

Calories seem to be the universal measure of energy in fitness and weight loss. There are other systems such as Mets which are less popular. The math in calorie counting weight loss programs is pretty simple here's how it works;

A lb of body weight is equated to roughly 3500 calories. Every time you take in less than you burn you have a calorie deficit that contributes to your weight loss. Alternatively if you consume more calories than you take in you have a calorie surplus that contributes to weight gain.

Calories that are added are your food and calories that are subtracted are your base metabolic rate(calories you burn while doing nothing to keep your heart beating etc) and your activity(exercise, etc).

So calculating your weekly weight loss goals you need to take the number of lbs you want to lose times 3500 calories and then divide that number by 7 days to figure out how much of a deficit you need each day. This can be achieved by either exercise or diet or a combination of both. So food calories - metabolic rate - exercise = deficit in your ideal setting.

example:I want to lose 2lbs a week that is a 7000 calorie deficit. 7000/7 = 1000. so my food - metabolic rate - exercise should = -1000.. If I ate 2000 calories and my metabolic rate was 2200 calories I would need to add 800 calories of exercise to achieve my -1000 goal for the day. 2000-2200-800=-1000.