If a person wanted to lose a pound, what would it take? If that person were to burn an extra 500 calories a day without increasing caloric intake at all, they would see they had lost a pound in a week.
It takes about 3500 calories to make a pound. If a person could burn off an additional 1,000 calories without increasing food intake they could burn off a pound in about three-and-a-half days.
If a person is looking to achieve fat loss, it is important to burn more calories than are taken in, every day.
Running or walking one mile five times during the course of a day, or taking one run or walk per day that is five miles long. A person could also reduce caloric intake by 250 and run or walk two and a half miles a day to achieve the same effect.
It is important to realize that the same amount of activity burns more calories the more someone weighs. This is one of the main reasons plateaus occur. Doing the same exercise and losing weight may find a person loses less and less from the same activity. When that happens, change the exercise, change the diet, or make another change that will reset what the body is used to.