to lose weight, do you HAVE TO burn more calories than you consume

if this is true than it is verrrry hard to lose weight.....

im not sure what i should be focusing on keeping minimal (cholesterol, calories, what fats in what foods) to keep my weight down

to lose weight, do you HAVE TO burn more calories than you consume

Yes, it is as true as night follows day!
There is no other route to weight loss.

As an equation it becomes:
Calories IN = Calories OUT + ACCUMULATION.

Just keep in mind that if you are doing a 1500 calorie a day diet you do NOT go to the gym and try to burn off 1500 calories!! Your body burns up calories on its own anyway. I try to work out 45 minutes to an hour each time and try to work out most days.

just to let you know..i read in the newspaper today that to lose one pound you need to burn 3500 calories.

just to let you know..i read in the newspaper today that to lose one pound you need to burn 3500 calories.

I heard that true. So that means that if you want to lose a pound a week, you would have to eat 500 calories less than you normally eat each day.

The bottom line is that if you eat more than your body needs, you will store excess calories as fat in your body. If you eat less than what your body needs your body will dip into your its fat reserves and use that as fuel to make up the difference between what it needs and what you give it. That's how you lose fat.
Best way to lose weight is to up the caloric reuirements of your body by working out (it requires energy (calories) to do that work) and at the same time lower your intake of calories slightly to make the difference between energy in and energy out even bigger. The bigger the (negative) difference the greater the fat loss.