How Much Weight Will I Lose in a Year?

Suppose you make a daily change in your life, like you eat one less 250 calorie candy bar or you walk one extra mile and burn up an extra 100 calories.  If you do this for every day, how much less will you weigh in a year?

If you make a change, there’s an easy way to estimate how much weight you will lose in a year.  You simply divide the calories by 10.  That’s the number of pounds you’ll lose if you are otherwise in energy balance.

   One less 270 calorie candy bar each day                 =         27 fewer pounds in a year
   One less 140 calorie soft drink each day                  =          14 fewer pounds in a year
   One less 420 calorie bagel or donut each day        =          42 fewer pounds in a year

The same thing works with burning calories, walking one extra daily mile is 100 calories and 10 pounds a year. Exercise is good, but some think it is a lot easier to give up a candy bar than to walk 2.7 miles to a vending machine.

From Mindless Eating, p. 31