How many calories do you have to burn to lose a pound of fat? It’s more than you think, and the number may have many of you feeling a bit discouraged. The calories burned per pound of fat is thousands of calories. That may seem like a big number; especially when you are trying desperately to lose weight. Gaining weight is easy to do. Losing weight can be a challenge. Eating right and exercising is the key. Watching the number of calories you consume, combined with shedding calories through exercise, will aid in losing weight. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.