Need to burn in order to lose weight

The final number you come up with is the total calories that your body needs to maintain your current weight. So, if you continue to consume this amount of calories you will remain at your current weight, and if you exceed this amount, you will gain weight. Next we are going to use this number to determine what your calorie intake should be and/or how many calories you will need to burn in order to lose weight.

One pound is equal to 3,400 calories, and so to lose 1 pound in a week, you would need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day. On the other hand, to lose 2 pounds per week, you would need to create a calorie deficit of 1,000 calories per day. This can be achieved in 1 of 3 ways. You can either reduce your calorie intake to create a calorie deficit, you can increase your physical activity through exercise to create a calorie deficit, or you can do a combination of both, which is considered most efficient.

Going back to your results from the above equation, if you want to lose 1 pound per week through calorie reduction alone, you can subtract 500 from that number to get your daily calorie limit. If you want to lose 2 pounds per week through calorie reduction alone, you can subtract 1,000 instead.

Note: I would recommend calorie reduction combined with exercise if subtracting either amount results in a daily calorie limit below 1,100, as it is not recommended to consume less than 1,100 calories per day.
If you prefer to focus on physical activity alone, you can consume the full amount of calories from the above equation and burn either 500 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week, or burn 999 calories per day to lose 2 pounds per week.

The first step is determining your daily calorie needs. I am going to use the Mifflin -St. Jeor equation. This equation allows you to calculate how many calories your body needs to maintain basic bodily functions such as breathing, your heartbeat, etc. You would use the following equation to determine your daily calorie needs based on your current weight, height, and age, then account for your physical activity level:

First you will need a visual, something you can see that can help you grasp what 25 pounds looks like. Did you know that a regular size bag of potatoes is about 5 pounds? Now just imagine 5 bags of potatoes lying in a pile in front of you. That's a lot of weight isn't it? Now that you have a visual, let's figure out how long it should take to lose this much weight.