calories in & calories out

[shanif32]

Hi all. I am new to this site and am having a hard time figuring out the calories verses time exercising to lose weight. I am 251 lbs. I don't have great knees and am doing my exercise from home. I have a horizon treadmill that goes up to 6 miles per hour but with no incline. I also have a pilates machine. Both of which seem to work well for me but what of each and how much of each to lose let's say around 1 to 2 1lbs a week.

Any help much appreciated. Good luck all.

[rpmcduff]

Losing weight is all about maintaing a calorie deficit. You can acheive the deficit by eating less, exercising more or a combination of the two (the better method in my opinon).

So the next question is how much deficit do you need to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week? Since a pound of body weight equates to apprx. 3500 calories then a 500 calorie deficit per day (500 x 7 days= 3500) will equal about a 1 pound loss per week. Similarly a 750 calorie deficit/day will be 1.5lbs/week and 1000 calorie deficit/day will be 2lbs/week.

To know what that means to your diet and exercise plan you will need to find your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) adjusted to your lifestyle (I will call this your Adjusted BMR). You can do this using the tools here on Fitday using your height, weight, age and your typical daily activity. Your Adjusted BMR will provide you with the number of calories your body uses on a daily basis. Adjusted BMR plus Exercise minus calories eaten = Caloric deficit. So if your :
Adj BMR = 2500 calories
Exercise = 500 calories
Food = 2000 calories
Then using the formula 2500 + 500 - 2000 = 1000 calorie deficit.

Just remember that the old saying 'You can't out train a bad diet' . In my opinion diet is about 80% of the equation. Hope this helps!