To lose one pound, how many calories must you burn more than you consume?

To lose one pound of body weight, you need to create a caloric deficit of approximately 3,500 calories. This figure comes from the understanding that a pound of body fat is primarily composed of stored energy, which translates to a specific amount of calories. When you consume fewer calories than your body needs for maintenance and activities or increase your physical activity to burn additional calories, you will deplete these stored energy reserves.

In practical terms, this means that to achieve weight loss, you can either decrease your caloric intake, increase your physical activity, or a combination of both to reach that 3,500-calorie deficit. This is a fundamental concept in weight management and nutrition, illustrating the direct relationship between caloric balance and body weight.

The other options reflect different caloric figures but do not align with the established standard of 3,500 calories for one pound of fat, making them unsuitable in this context.