Friday Favorites: The 3,500 Calorie per Pound Rule Is Wrong
How many fewer calories do you have to eat every day to lose one pound of body fat? If it were just a matter of your weight settling …
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How many fewer calories do you have to eat every day to lose one pound of body fat? If it were just a matter of your weight settling …
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So it seems like yes the 3500 calorie thing is true, but also you’d have to adjust your -500 as you lose weight because you’re burning less calories. Sure, if you stay the same it’s gonna plateau. But having a tracker where you put in your weight it’s gonna adjust. Technically, if you did keep eating 500 calories less than what you’re burning you would keep losing weight.
So within a broad range, 3500 kcal/pound holds. But at higher weights or lower weights, it asymptotes. I found that for me that figure is about 195 pounds.
I had 5 liposuccions, because of Lipodema, so I had no choice. It's no joke on the body ! If you want to do it just for looks. Please don't !
I didn’t hear anything in the video that disputes the 3500 calorie rule. This video basically just says “if you want to maintain a 500 calorie deficit you need to account for the fact your body requires fewer calories as you lose weight.” The scenario presented in the video is someone who cuts 500 calories off their initial diet and then that is their new permanent baseline. And that scenario is presented to show the 3500 calorie rule is wrong.
Honestly a bit of an embarrassing analysis/title combination for this channel.
In short the 3500 calorie per LB of fat is correct and it was never refuted in this video.
The video then goes on a tangent explaining a mechanic of reduced caloric eating.
Your body will likely try to fight a reduction of calories by reducing the energy it uses when resting.
Linear progress likely doesnt happen because people are terrible at counting calories and dont remember adjust caloric needs as weght comes off. Fact is weight loss is always going to be based on CICO. Go show your vidoes to Dr. Now and im sure he will call your BS. This is information but skewed towards an agenda to get views.
Unfortunately not one of your best videos. A daily 500 calorie deficit implies it evolves day by day, so if the calories burned reduces, the calories-in would also need to reduce to maintain that deficit. Simple math Dr. Greger!
The resulting message of the video explains why a fixed calorie intake will have a plateauing effect on weight loss. This idea was well explained 🙂
wait – just because your burn rate changes doesn't equate to the 3500 calorie rule being wrong – it could just mean you can't reach a 3500 cal deficit as easily.
I find this thermodynamic discussion surprisingly out of date. A calorie is never just a calorie. A calorie of GMO soy oil is not a calorie of avocado oil. A calorie of highly refined sugar is not "equal" to a calorie of something like raw honey. Thermodynamics just ignore human biology. Weight isn't necessarily even fat, it can be the autoimmune system in high gear fighting undigested particles in the blood! I eliminated refined sugar, GMO foods, nonorganic foods, did no exercise (that thermodynamics claim are essential) and went from 260 to 180 which is the same 8 years later! Farm your microbiome, heal your gut, and the weight will leave! Isn't some "study", it is just how the body works!
The 3500 calorie rule does work, just not continuously over time.
would love to know how many calories i should be eating. What's the formula, so I can plug in my weight?
The "rule" is correct. That is indeed the approximate amount of energy in a pound of pure fat. Metabolic adaptation doesn't change that.
Yes! I made a formula in excel that showed this happening as I lost weight……it's much more dramatic than you might expect….
I thought you were going to say a pound of bodyweight lost isnt a pound of fat lost
nice pedi
Clickbait title. Video’s point is common knowledge.
Hunger and satiety signals are the most accurate “calorie counters”.
I’ve wondered how it effect weight loss/calorie requirements if while eating less to lose weight, you wore a weighted vest that you could add the weight you’ve lost back on in vest weight.
Would it help, hurt or be neutral
Clickbait. The rule was not contradicted in any of the examples. In all cases, there was a slowdown in weight loss because the subjects did not adjust their calorie intake as their weight (and energy expenditure) decreased, so they were not in a 500-calorie deficit.
non linear relationships are confusing for the medical establishment
Sorry, but I see a flaw in the explanation. The rule is about a deficit of 3500 kkcal, and it's the deficit compared to the calories burned. The reference amount changes. If you take this Into account, this rule works.
I love the nih.gov bodyweight planner for this. I am down 50 pounds and my diet doesn't get harder. I just keep following the curve it generated towards my goal. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
I love this channel!
Gorgeous feet on the thumbnail
This and the whole "a calorie is a calorie" myth are the two misconceptions that have created more weight loss frustration than anything else out there.
I've lost 3 pounds a week eating just a couple hundred calories below BMR for weeks at a time. It's not hard, but it's allegedly impossible according to the "calorie is a calorie" folks or the 3500 people. The human body doesn't work that way.
This video assumes you’re not adjusting calories in relative to calories out to maintain a 500-calorie deficit. Of course the tiny woman wouldn’t vanish, but the obese man could reach 700 pounds by eating 2 donuts a day, then 4, then 6… always 2 donuts ahead of what he burns
I can lose a lbs a day Easy. Losing weight is easy. Putting on weight is Hard.
There’s also NEAT, not just weight-based BMR.
And it is even more complex than “bigger bodies require more energy to move and maintain” because there are some very energy-intensive processes (like immune system activity) that are up or down regulated based on energy availability. I’m currently reading Herman Pontzer’s ‘Burn’ and enjoying it immensely. Highly recommended.
Please can you do a video about gaining weight in a healthy way. There's so much loose this loose that, but some people struggle to gain any kind of weight and have problems with macros especially when on a high fiber diet. being really skeletal skinny with no energy is not healthy either
What you're describing is the wall people always wonder why the wall stalls there progress you just answered why
Thanks
In my study (n=1), switching to a WFPB diet, minimizing oil, limiting nuts and getting off my keister regularly resulted in more weight loss than I care to share with zero counting of calories.
OK, I did add up calories for a week just to see what I was taking in and it turned out to be just what I'd need to maintain my ideal weight.
Check out his video on the study that fed people the flavorless goop. That was an eye opener. It works with tasty vegan food, too. Listening to your body and not eating SAD CRAP that artificially enhances one's hunger is a game changer.
My name is Suzie D. I want to thank you for your great books & information …. I have been vegan for 3 years…. I have lost 120 lbs…. I FEEL GREAT…. I have never believed the 3500 calorie rule
Is it not that as the person loses weight then the BMR goes down? Therefore, they are no longer in a 500 calorie deficit. As the person looses weight the deficit gets smaller and smaller. Right?
Got your book on how not to die and have been a whole food plant based vegan for 5 years. It has changed my life for the better. Have to exercise so I do Pilates everyday and make sure I move You are in constant motion on the treadmill so I got one. Walking and talking become a great way to live happily. Stairstepper also. If I start sitting too much it then becomes the norm. We are the habits we keep so mindfully choose your behaviors wisely. Thank you Dr Gregor! Ever want to speak in nyc or the Jersey Shore area I’d help.
So a pound of fat does contain approximately 3500kcal, it's just that the body has compensation mechanisms that affect real world weight loss, so we can't use basic arithmetic to estimate weight loss.