How many calories do you need to burn to lose a pound?

Three thousand five hundred calories must be burned, either through exercise or daily life functions, to lose a pound. To lose a pound a week, an additional 500 calories per day must be burned. A healthy, safe weight loss is between 1 and 2 pounds per week.

The average runner burns roughly 100 calories per mile run; therefore, running 5 miles per day on average every day achieves a weight loss of a pound a week by burning 3,500 calories. Weight loss can also be achieved through a combination of exercise and calorie reduction. If calories are reduced by 200 a day, only 300 additional calories must be burned through exercise per day to lose a pound a week.