3,500 Calorie Exercise Weight Loss Challenge

It is common knowledge that there are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of fat.  This is of course an imprecise statement, since the exact number of calories that need to be burned to consume a pound of fat will vary from person to person, based on age, weight, exercise intensity, body metabolism, and other factors.

However, as a test, I want to see how hard it would be to burn 3,500 calories in one week purely through exercise.  This is not as simple as it seems.  As noted in my post on calories burned while walking, walking a mile can burn 120 calories, depending on your weight and speed.  If it takes you 15 minutes to walk a mile, that’s four miles an hour, or 480 calories.  Therefore to burn 3,500 calories you would need to walk for 7.29 hours, without stopping to eat!

It’s easier to consume 3,500 calories than to burn them.

For example, take a look at this McDonald’s meal:

Meal Item

Calories

Big Mac

560

Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich

680

Large French Fries

570

Vanilla Triple Thick® Shake (32 fl oz cup)

1,110

Hot Fudge Sundae

330

McDonaldland® Cookies

250

Total Calories

3,500

 

In other words, to burn off this meal you would need to walk over 7 hours!  And that’s just one meal!

So what’s my plan to burn 3,500 calories in one week?  Simple; I need to burn 500 calories per day for seven days (but you already guessed that, right?).

So here are some 500 “calorie” combinations (based on a 190 pound man):

 

Monday

Calories

Fast walk/ Running on treadmill, half hour         

330

Calisthenics (push ups, situps), moderate effort, 1/4 hour

170

Total Calories

500

 

 

Tuesday

Calories

Running on treadmill, half hour  

370

Weight lifting, moderate effort, half hour           

130

Total Calories

500

 

Wednesday

Calories

Bicycling, including hills, 45 minutes

500

Total Calories

500

 

Thursday (same as Monday)

Calories

Fast walk/ Running on treadmill, half hour         

330

Calisthenics (push ups, situps), moderate effort, 1/4 hour

170

Total Calories

500

 

Friday

Calories

Roller blading, moderate effort, 15 minutes

150

Bicycling, moderate speed, 13 mph, half hour

350

Total Calories

500

 

Saturday

Calories

Roller blading, moderate effort, 30 minutes       

300

Bicycling, moderate speed, 13 mph, 17 minutes

200

Total Calories

500

 

Sunday

Calories

Bicycling, including hills, 45 minutes

500

Total Calories

500

 

Of course there are an infinite number of combinations to hit 500 calories per day.

For example, a half hour walk in the morning, and a 45 minute walk at night, would equal roughly 500 calories.

The point is this: a week’s worth of exercise equals one large meal at McDonald’s, so to lose weight a combination of exercise and a proper diet is required.