The New Calories per Pound of Weight Loss Rule

Losing a pound of fat can take as few as 10 calories a day or as many as 55, depending on whether you’re improving food quality or just restricting food quantity.

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

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Image credit: Vidmir Raic / pixabay

[sungheelee]

This is for my friend who is over weight, constantly on newest diet but never successful.
It drives me crazy when she says “ oh, I can’t eat mango because they are so high in sugar and you know, sugar is really bad for you” (while she is reaching for a hunk of brie)🤦‍♀️

[lyfecast]

I’ve found people have the most long term, sustained success when they do not count calories; but rather, educate themselves about what they’re eating and develop a healthy relationship with food and a realistic sustainable nutrition plan!

[sooooooooDark]

math teacher: eventually ull understand everything, i promiss


this video:

[LevelUpWellness]

New Nutrition Facts videos are always one of the most interesting parts of my day! Thanks Dr. Greger! 😄🥦🍎

[lightbringer]

Whole food plant-only diet will slim you down. For those training for muscle mass growth - -> don't forget your beans, oats and other high protein plant sources. That's my experience for what its worth. Good luck all.

[GordonOverkill]

For me the 3500-approach worked really well. I aimed for a daily deficit of 500 and reached my goal weight after half a year without any significant plateaus.

[Jake]

Would like to see data on effects of tattoo ink, and also diet soda vs regular.

[mowthpeece]

On a bit different topic: The reality is that anyone wanting to be thin simply cannot eat fast food or regular restaurant meals. You just can't do it. So just write them off. Most of those meals are an entire day's worth of calories (at least for me...just ONE fast food meal). And how common is it for people to eat out at least twice in a day? No wonder people are fat. I've sworn off fast food. I can literally gain 2-3 stubborn pounds by just including fast foods in my diet two days in a row. This violates so many laws of physics, I can't even tell you. But it's true. The fat bloat is real!

So I just cook at home. Mostly vegan, mostly starch (thank you, Dr. McDougall, you're pretty cool too, Dr. Greger). And lift a lot of weights. This has kept me stable, though I still chase the cut with endless frustration.

I did find another very interesting violation of fat physics, only the opposite...I can *lose* two pounds of *hard to gain back* pounds by just 24hrs on olives, avocados or guacamole, and nuts. I realize this is technically vegan keto, and I hate keto diets, but when I just can't take the bloat anymore, I just pop *a few* olives and nuts, and I'm good to go with ZERO appetite for HOURS. I can then fast for 24hrs with next to no hunger snacking on a few bites of delish guac as I go. This is not unlike Dr. Longo's Prolon Diet, but much, much cheaper and easier. I have no explanation for why two pounds disappear in only one day and stay gone for a week before they come back, but they do.

I only mention these things because there is definitely more going on than just calories in calories out. So much more.

Thank you for the calculators! I already see that they don't match my reality AT ALL. If I ate 2100 calories a day - like it says I should, to maintain my weight - I'd be big as a house. So I don't know where they get I pump! Damn! It's so unfair! I will try their suggestions for increasing activity and see if it really will help me drop 15lbs of fat in 90 days...I'm curious to see.

[chrisventura]

I just lost 50lbs in the last 6 months. Went from a 47 inch waist to 37. 36% bodyfat to 20%.

I never worry about portion control. Ever.

I only eat two meals a day though. Lunch and dinner. Sometimes just dinner bc I do keto and I am just not hungry as often eating a low glycemic diet.

But that does not mean I live on bacon and cheese.

I may do 7 cups a greens in a salad w cheese and an avocado and nutts for desert.

Greens greens and more greens. Healthy keto.

Oh and my bloodwork just got taken 6 months into keto and it was the best it has been in years and years. No issues. Healthy. Doctor is very happy with my changes.

[janiceg]

I was always told multiple the weight you want to be x 10 and add/sub for activity.

[jhadesdev]

This is starting to make sense why my weight plauted. I lost 40 pounds but still have a bunch of abdominal fat that I can't get rid of no matter what. I hardly do any exercise, and work from home so l don't walk a lot. The last year I've been in a complete plateau no matter what I try. I even switched my breakfast from oatmeal to fruit only, but nothing. Recently I cut all nut butters, dates and avocados in the hope that it will trigger weight loss again. But these formulas show that even then its going to be max 2 pounds a month. It's good to know so that I can adjust my expectations to something realistic.

[kellybananabelly]

So the first calculator takes into account the metabolic changes while dieting right? Like if the calculator tells me I need to eat 1700 calories in order to get to my goal weight by say March, then having to adjust is already done for me? (Meaning I won't have to later drop calories to 1600 when I plateau)?

[Santoryou]

Now the same video with the metric system please! :D

[wkgeneralwkgeneral]

This makes sense to me. I'm curious though - let's say that you in order to lose all the weight you ended up limiting calories to 1400 per day. You mentioned that it takes about 3 years for your body to settle into the new weight. If you don't increase your activity level does this mean that you have to say at 1400 calories for the rest of your life or can you increase your calories somewhat after the 3 year settling in period?

[RabbitFoodFitness]

Thank you so much for posting this video it's really good to see the actual science behind this. At my gym we talk about the 3500 calorie rule and I think it might be a good way to simplify understanding weight loss, but you can't over simplify anything that happens in the body. I am going to start using these calculators instead of the formula that I have been using to calculate calories for people! Thank you!

[sueharrison]

Way over complicated and misleading. The 3500 cal per pound is still true. You obviously have to recalculate the baseline from which you subtract that 3500 cals per week for a pound loss as you drop weight and along with it your resting and active calorie burn. My recommendation is to get and use an activity tracker and input your starting data such as height weight age and update your weight each day. It will do the maths for you and also give you a pretty good estimate on active calorie burn based on your heart rate and movement.

Just take the number for your calorie burn from the tracker and use a calorie counting app to get control of the process. As for hunger control - experience during the diet will teach you what meals keep you full. Personally I can eat masses of veg and still be hungry. Protein is key for me and for most dieters. I simply don't get what it said in the video about cutting even more calories if you are hungry. Surely that is bonkers and is going to lead to a binge. Hunger should be a low grade thing shortly before meals, not a raging drive. If you are mad with hunger you are cutting too much for your activity. But experience shows me that unless I am getting slightly peckish before my meals the weight loss is not going to happen. Go slow, count calories and use activity to allow you to eat more during weight loss. I dropped over a stone so far comfortably and no plateau. Obviously it's easier to eat 500 less per day if your baseline is 3000 than if it is already at 1700, and there comes a time where the lower healthy limit of around 1200 for women bumps into the ability to lose quickly. I feel these videos are misleading and are damaging Dr Gregor's reputation.

[reeceball]

As someone who’s had to do serious math and constant recalculations each week in order to finally lose and keep off a significant amount of weight (and no, going vegan in and of itself didn’t make me lose any weight—in fact, I gained weight when I first went vegan), I think this video is really important for people to see. Weight loss is super complicated.

[eelkeaptroot]

So these calculators can also predict weight gain I guess, I should check them out, my health app doesn´t seem to get the right results, thank for the info doc.

[jakeandsarahhealthnuts]

Getting way to complicated counting calories. Just eat a WFPB lifestyle and it will be effortless to lose weight with out doing all this confusing counting.

[fspider]

On the bus on the way to work..will watch full video later. What's the jist of this video?