To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. But by how much exactly? Here’s how many calories you need to burn if you want to lose 1 pound of fat.
There are many preconceived ideas about weight loss, particularly because of the popularity of certain “miracle” diets. “Lose 3 kilos in 1 week before the holidays”, “Lose 4 kilos in 1 month”, we tend to believe the promises of these tempting programs. But in reality almost all of them are ineffective. This is what explains the sports coach Kevin Druot on his Instagram account. The expert explains in a very simple way the principle of the calorie deficit.
Indeed, to lose weight, it is essential to be in a calorie deficit, i.e. to spend more calories than we consume through food. This deficit can range from 250 kcal to 500 kcal depending on each person’s metabolism and needs. But it is not recommended to exceed the threshold of 500 kcal of calorie deficit, in which case the basic metabolism risks dropping drastically. But how many calories do you actually need to burn to lose 1 kilo?
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“Have realistic expectations”
“To lose 1 kilo of fat, you need to burn 7500 to 800 kcal” explains the expert. We are talking here about fat loss and not water loss because it is very easy to lose 1 kilo or more of water after a sports session for example. But this weight is immediately regained once the body is rehydrated. To lose 2 kilos in 1 month, you would therefore need to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories over 30 days.
“So losing 2 kilos per week and this every week is impossible in the long term or else you have to run 4 hours every day” underlines the coach. “You need to have realistic long-term expectations! 200 to 500g per week is already very very good”. As you will have understood, lasting and healthy weight loss for the body must be considered over several months or even several years. So forget the idea of embarking on an ultra-restrictive diet after the holidays!
Head of beauty/fitness/nutrition sections
After working for the Marie Claire and Prisma Media groups, Inès arrived at aufeminin in April 2022. Responsible for the beauty, fitness and nutrition sections, she likes to decipher the latest…