How do you calculate the number of calories you burn per day? What factors affect daily calorie burn? How can exercise impact calorie burning for weight loss? Find the answers to these questions and more in this comprehensive guide.

Calorie Basics: Understanding the Measure of Energy

Most people think of calories as only relating to food and weight management, but a calorie is actually a unit of heat energy. Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. This measurement can be applied to various energy-releasing mechanisms, including the human body.

When it comes to the human body, calories represent the energy the body needs to function. The three main macronutrients in food – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – have different calorie contents per gram: carbohydrates and proteins have 4 calories per gram, while fats have 9 calories per gram. Understanding these calorie differences between food types is crucial for managing calorie intake and expenditure.

Calculating Daily Calorie Burn: The Harris-Benedict Formula

An accepted method for calculating how many calories a person burns each day is the Harris-Benedict Formula. This formula, first developed in the early 20th century and later revised, involves two key steps:

1. Calculating the person’s basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories burned just by existing. BMR is influenced by factors like age, sex, size, and genetics.
2. Multiplying the BMR by the person’s average daily activity level, which is assigned a numerical point value based on their exercise and physical activity habits.

For example, a 37-year-old, 6-foot-tall, 170-pound man who is moderately active would have a daily calorie burn of around 2,766 calories using this formula. This figure can help him determine how to adjust his calorie intake to maintain, lose, or gain weight.

Factors Affecting Daily Calorie Burn

Many factors, both within and outside of a person’s control, can influence how many calories they burn each day. These include:

• Age: Older individuals tend to burn fewer calories per day.
• Sex: Men generally burn more calories than women.
• Daily activity level: Those who move more throughout the day burn more calories.
• Body composition: People with more muscle mass burn more calories, even at rest.
• Body size: Larger individuals burn more calories than smaller individuals.
• Thermogenesis: The body’s process of generating heat, which requires energy expenditure.

The Role of Exercise in Calorie Burning

Exercise is a key factor in increasing daily calorie burn. Different types of exercise have varying effects on calorie expenditure:

• Aerobic exercise (e.g. running, cycling, swimming) burns a significant number of calories during the activity.
• Strength training (e.g. weightlifting) builds muscle, which increases the body’s resting metabolic rate and leads to more calories burned throughout the day.
• High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can continue to burn calories even after the workout has ended.

By incorporating a mix of aerobic, strength, and HIIT exercises into a fitness routine, individuals can maximize their daily calorie burn and support their weight loss or weight management goals.

Using Calorie Calculators and Consulting Professionals

For those who don’t want to calculate their daily calorie burn manually, there are numerous online calorie calculators available. These tools typically use similar formulas to the Harris-Benedict method to provide a personalized estimate.

Additionally, consulting with a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or nutritionist, can be valuable for getting an accurate assessment of your individual calorie needs and developing a tailored plan to reach your health and fitness objectives.

Putting It All Together: Balancing Calories for Weight Management

Ultimately, the key to weight loss or weight gain is creating a calorie deficit or surplus, respectively. By understanding how many calories you burn each day and adjusting your calorie intake accordingly, you can effectively manage your weight over time.

Remember, the number of calories you burn daily is influenced by a variety of factors, both within and outside of your control. Incorporating regular exercise, monitoring your calorie intake, and working with healthcare professionals can all help you achieve your desired weight goals.

Calculation, factors, exercise, weight loss

The number of calories a person burns each day varies depending on a person’s weight, height, sex, and activity levels. There are many ways of calculating a person’s daily calorie usage.

For a person to lose weight, they must burn more calories than they take in, creating a calorie deficit. But, to do this, they need to know how many calories they burn each day.

In this article, we take a look at how someone can work out how many calories they burn in a day.

Share on PinterestThe three main food groups — proteins, carbohydrates, and fats — have different calorie contents. Most food products will display the nutritional content, including calories.

Most people think of calories as only having to do with food and weight loss. However, a calorie is a unit of heat energy. A calorie is the amount of energy that is needed to raise 1 gram (g) of water by 1°C.

This measurement can be applied to lots of different energy releasing mechanisms outside of the human body. For the human body, calories are a measure of how much energy the body needs to function.

Food contains calories. Different food has different calorie counts, meaning that each food has a different amount of potential energy.

There are three basic types of foods that make up all the food that humans eat: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These three different types of food have varying amounts of potential energy per g.

The calorie breakdowns per g for each food type are as follows:

• Carbohydrates: 4 calories per g
• Proteins: 4 calories per g
• Fats: 9 calories per g

Share on PinterestCalculating calories consumed and burned up may help with weight management. Various apps and websites are available to aid this process.

Being able to work out how many calories are burned each day is essential to any person looking to maintain, lose, or gain weight.

Knowing what factors contribute to calorie burning can help a person alter their diet or exercise program to accommodate the goal.

An accepted method to calculate how many calories a person burns each day is the Harris-Benedict Formula.

Originally developed in the early 20th century, it was revamped in 1984 and again in 1990 to help improve its accuracy.

The Harris-Benedict formula is a relatively simple process in which a person multiplies their basal metabolic rate (BMR) by their average daily activity level.

BMR is the number of calories a person burns by simply existing. BMR varies based on age, sex, size, and genetics. To calculate BMR, a person uses inches for height, pounds for weight, and years for age in the following formulas:

• For men: 66 + (6.2 x weight) + (12.7 x height) – (6.76 x age)
• For women: 655.1 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) – (4.7 x age)

The results of the BMR calculation are then used to multiply against the average daily activity of the person. Points are awarded based on how active a person is.

Points for activity levels are as follows:

• 1. 2 points for a person who does little to no exercise
• 1.37 points for a slightly active person who does light exercise 1–3 days a week
• 1.55 points for a moderately active person who performs moderate exercise 3–5 days a week
• 1.725 points for a very active person who exercises hard 6–7 days a week
• 1.9 points for an extra active person who either has a physically demanding job or has a particularly challenging exercise routine

When the BMR is calculated and the activities points are determined, the two scores are multiplied. The total is the number of calories burned on an average day.

For example, to calculate how many calories a 37-year-old, 6-foot-tall, and 170-pound man who is moderately active burns, the formula would look like:

(66 + (6.2 x 170) + (12.7 x 72) – (6.76 x 37)) x 1.55 = 2,766 calories/day

This figure shows that a man of this age, height, weight, and activity level can consume 2,766 calories and maintain his current weight. He could increase or decrease weight by consuming more or less than this amount over the course of several days.

For those who do not wish to make the calculations themselves, there are a range of calorie calculators available online. Most use a similar formula to work out calories burned.

A doctor or nutritionist should also be able to help people work out how many calories they burn each day.

Many factors affect how many calories a person burns each day. Some of the factors that influence daily calorie burn are not in a person’s control while others can be changed.

These factors include:

• Age: the older a person is, the fewer calories burned per day.
• Sex: men burn more calories than women.
• Amount of daily activity: those who move more, burn more calories.
• Body composition: those with more muscle burn more calories than those who have less muscle.
• Body size: larger people burn more calories than smaller people, even at rest.
• Thermogenesis: this is the amount of energy the body uses to break down food.
• Pregnancy: pregnant women burn more calories than non-pregnant women.
• Breast-feeding: women who are breast-feeding also burn extra calories.

Share on PinterestAll activities use up calories, even housework such as vacuuming. More intense physical activity such as aerobics will burn more calories.

Calorie counts for exercise and activity will vary from person to person. Age, sex, body type, and size influence how many calories an individual will burn doing a physical activity.

In general, more intense or strenuous activity will burn more calories than lighter effort exercise.

The following calorie counts are based on a 155-pound person doing the following exercise or activity for 30 minutes:

• aerobics: 211
• stationary bike (light effort): 176
• stationary bike (moderate effort): 247
• dusting: 70
• gardening: 176
• grocery shopping: 106
• hiking: 211
• house cleaning: 106
• jogging: 247
• running 12-minute miles: 282
• running 10-minute miles: 352
• running 7. 5-minute miles: 428
• laundry, including folding clothes: 70
• mowing the lawn (no riding mowers): 141
• playing with kids at the playground: 141
• cooking: 70
• raking: 141
• shoveling snow: 211
• tennis (singles): 282
• vacuuming: 70
• brisk walking: 141
• walking while pushing a stroller: 70
• weightlifting: 106
• yoga: 141

Anyone that wants to figure out how many calories they burn can input their statistics into a calorie calculator and find personalized results.

People looking to lose weight should try to create a calorie deficit by following these tips:

• moving more
• eating a lower calorie diet full of healthful fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins
• getting enough sleep
• drinking more water

Losing weight can be very tough to do. Understanding how many calories an individual’s body burns per day and what to do to increase daily calorie burn is the key to success.

Burn This Number of Calories in a Day to Lose Weight, According to Experts

This story is part of 12 Days of Tips, helping you make the most of your tech, home and health during the holiday season.

It’s always a good time to kickstart your journey to better health, including the start of the new year. Simply put, losing weight occurs when you burn more calories than you eat. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably wondering what calorie-burning methods you need to apply on a daily basis. The truth is that it varies for every person. Everyone burns a different amount of calories while at rest or doing everyday activities. First, you need to figure this out before determining how many calories you burn during a workout and then how many calories you need to eat.

A good way to determine these figures is by consulting with an expert such as a dietitian or nutritionist. They are trained to help address your body’s specific calorie needs. However, if you don’t have access to one, you can still estimate how many calories you need each day and how much to burn when exercising on your own. With the help of certified trainer Brooke Taylor, we break down the best strategy for working out to reach your weight loss goals.

How many calories should you burn to lose weight?

If your goal is to lose weight and you’re tracking calories, then you have to burn more calories than you consume, creating a deficit. To do this, you should take into account your basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body burns at rest. Then factor in how many calories you’re eating per day. 

Once you have the total calories you burn at rest and eat in a week (multiply your BMR by 7 and calorie intake by 7) you can adjust your calorie intake and workouts so that you’re burning about 2,000 calories a week, which is the goal that Taylor gives most clients.

According to Taylor, aiming to lose 1-2 pounds each week is a healthy goal. One pound equals 3,500 calories, and you can split up how you create that deficit. She recommends burning 2,000 calories per week by exercising, and then trimming 1,500 calories a week from your diet, which breaks down to about 214 fewer calories per day.

A general rule is to aim to burn 400-500 calories, five days a week during your workouts. Remember, the number of calories you burn in a workout depends on your weight, sex, age and many other factors, but this number is a good starting place. For example, a man who weighs 200 pounds is going to burn more calories doing the same workout as a woman who weighs 130 pounds. 

“Every body is different, which is why it is super important to work with certified professionals to personalize a program for you, monitor your program, make suggestions as you go and make alterations if needed,” Taylor says.

Heart rate-based fitness trackers and monitors are tools for determining your calorie burn.

Atit Phetmuangtong/EyeEm/Getty Images

How to track calorie burn when you exercise

Most fitness trackers, including the Fitbit, Apple Watch and Whoop, will tell you your calorie burn for each workout. This is typically based on your heart rate and other personal information you entered into the device settings when you set it up (like your weight, age and sex). Taylor says she’s a fan of the Polar heart-rate monitor since chest-strap monitors (like Polar) tend to be more accurate than trackers you wear on your wrist. None of those devices are perfectly accurate, but they can get you close.

You can also use an online calculator where you select the type of workout, your age, sex and weight and the duration of the workout.

According to Taylor, the main factors that determine how many calories you burn during a workout include:

• Heart rate training zone: Your heart rate zones show “how hard you are pushing and recovery periods,” Taylor says. “Your heart rate changes daily so knowing how much you are burning and what zones you are training in will only help you achieve your goals that much faster.” 
• Your natural resting heart rate: Everyone has a unique resting heart rate, and a normal range is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. If you have a higher resting heart rate, Taylor says your workout will need to adjust accordingly. “These clients typically elevate rather quickly and stay in higher burning zones longer, so they need breaks more frequently,” Taylor says.
• Your weight: “If someone weighs 120 pounds then they will burn less per hour than someone who weighs 180 pounds,” Taylor says.
• Types of workouts: “How you are training matters,” Taylor says. This is why you should opt for a fitness routine that factors in cardio as well as strength training, even if strength training doesn’t burn as many calories as your cardio workout. Building up more muscle over time will help you burn more calories when you’re at rest.

A quick note if your goal is to lose weight: Keeping a healthy mindset is important during this process. Avoid exercising with the sole goal of “punishing” yourself for what you ate or just to burn a ton of calories. The healthiest and most sustainable motivation for exercise comes from positive motivation such as exercising to relieve stress or get your body moving. Exercise offers so many more benefits for your health and well-being than just weight loss or calorie burn. 

How many calories are spent per day: an educational program for beginners

Many of us must have wondered how many calories are spent per day during normal routine activities. No one can accurately answer this question, because calorie consumption depends on our gender, age, height, weight, and physical activity.

For example, a woman aged 35, weighing about 60-63 kilograms, leading an inactive lifestyle – office, sofa, TV at the end of the day, cannot boast of high energy consumption. How many calories are burned per day with a sedentary lifestyle? Total about 1620 calories . And if she eats much more than this figure, then she will easily gain weight.

Now let’s take this same woman and see how many calories are being burned by being more active. Work, walking after the office, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, another short walk – and at the end of the day her energy consumption will be 1850 calories .

Next, consider a moderately active lifestyle. So, you have a rather energetic pace, you don’t sit much, you have to walk and drive a lot at work, you play sports at home, and homework brings you only pleasure. At the end of the working day, you happily work in your garden or take a light walk. How many calories are spent per day? Already about 2090 calories .

And finally, we come to a very active lifestyle. You work at home without a break, perhaps you are the owner of a farm and therefore a high workload is familiar and normal for you. Or you are preparing for a marathon, professionally doing some kind of sport, doing grueling workouts in the gym. Or maybe you do everything at once. How many calories are burned with this lifestyle – 2320 calories per day .

If your goal is to maintain your weight, then you can eat as many calories as you burn. This is called calorie balance. However, if your goal is to lose weight, then you should spend more calories than you enter into your body.

You must create a calorie deficit in order for your body to start using its stores.

For example, if you spend 2300 calories per day, but consume only 1800, you will actively lose weight, because the calorie deficit, in this case 500, your body will make up from your fat reserves.

Knowing how many calories you burn per day is important for those who don’t want to lose their muscle mass. After all, if your goal is to build or maintain muscle, you must strictly ensure that your body does not draw energy from muscle mass.

Calculating calories and energy expenditure is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Today, there are many calculators that will help you find out how many calories you have consumed during meals. There are also average data on how many calories are spent during a workout. Let’s dwell on the most popular physical activities.

How many calories are spent in 1 hour of fitness?

As we have already said, calorie consumption depends primarily on your weight, as well as on the physical activity itself.

Large energy consumption in aerobic exercise and step aerobics . These are high-intensity workouts with complex coordinated exercises. How many calories are spent in 1 hour of such a load also depends on the complexity of the workout.

For example, a person weighing 60 kg will burn about 300 calories during a moderate workout while an intense workout burns 420 calories per hour! step aerobics is even better, get ready to lose up to 500 calories in 1 hour of such a workout. Water aerobics also burns calories well; in one hour of such a workout, you will burn about 300 calories.

Circuit training can also boast of such high performance.

In 1 hour of circuit training, you can lose about 350-400 calories. In addition, such a load perfectly develops endurance.

If you have any elliptical trainer at home, don’t let it sit idle. How many calories are burned in 1 hour of work on elliptical trainers depends on your weight. At 55 kg you will burn about 500 calories, at 70 kg of weight this figure will increase to 650 calories per hour, and at 83 kg will be 800 calories at all !

Another calorie burner is the exercise bike. For 1 hour of very active exercise, you can burn up to 700-800 calories. If the load is average, then you will spend from 400 to 600 calories, which is also an excellent result.

How many calories you burn in 1 hour of strength training will depend on how hard you train. But on average, such a load will burn about 400 calories. And don’t forget that after strength training, your body will continue to burn calories after you’ve finished your workout.

Lovers of calm exercise – stretching, yoga, callanetics – burn about 250-300 calories in one hour of activity. But dynamic yoga (ashtanga yoga) will burn about 420 calories in 1 hour.

How many calories you burn in 1 hour of swimming depends on the swimming style you choose. So crawl swimming burns about 400-600 calories per hour , and breaststroke about 300. Remember that the faster you swim, the more calories you will burn.

How many calories do you burn in 1 hour of running?

This question is of concern to many, since running is considered one of the most energy-intensive sports. It is impossible to unequivocally answer this question, because how many calories are spent in 1 hour of running depends on how fast you run or how many kilometers you run. Consider the most common options:

• 1.5 km in 12 minutes – 476 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 10 minutes – 612 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 9 minutes – 680 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 8 minutes – 782 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 7 minutes – 884 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 6 minutes – 1050 calories per hour
• 1.5 km in 5.5 minutes – 1156 calories per hour.

Mention should also be made of running up stairs . For 1 hour of such a run, you will burn about 950 calories!

Do not forget about jogging, because not everyone can withstand such an intense run. Jogging (jogging) burns about 400 calories in 1 hour . When switching to normal walking, you will burn slightly fewer calories – 340.

How many calories are burned in 1 hour of walking?

Walking is considered low aerobic exercise. The advantage of this load is that it does not require any additional conditions or equipment. You can walk anytime and anywhere. In today’s world, walking is a good alternative to exercising if you are very limited in time.

Gentle walking burns about 140 calories per hour, while active walking burns about 180 calories.

1000 steps how many calories are spent

Many people wonder how many calories they burn by taking 1000 steps. To find out, you need to calculate how many minutes it takes you to do this number of steps. So, on average, for one minute of steps, a person weighing about 55 kg spends 6. 5 calories, and a person weighing about 80 already 9.7 calories per minute.

To burn as many calories as possible while walking, follow these simple rules:

• choose cross-country walking
• alternate load: 60 seconds of active walking, then 60 seconds of calm
• connect hand movements

Experts advise walking at least 10,000 steps per day, then your lifestyle can be considered active.

How to spend more calories. Simple Tips

• when talking on the phone, do not sit, but walk;
• replace the regular book with audio. Now you can listen to a book while walking;
• Take 2-minute walking breaks every hour in the office;
• get off the transport one stop earlier;
• park a little further from the desired place;
• wear comfortable clothes so you can always take yourself a long walk;
• forget about the elevator;
• use weights while walking;
• Sing while you’re stuck in traffic to burn another 100 calories in 40 minutes.

What we spend calories on during the day

The number of calories burned directly depends on your weight, sex, intensity of exercise, and metabolic rate. As you understand, the figures below are very arbitrary. However, you will find them on most specialized calorie calculation websites. It is believed that such data are average, that is, in our case, they are suitable for women weighing from 65 to 70 kilograms. However, even if your weight differs from the above, our data will help to form an idea of ​​​​the work of your body and the energy costs that occur during the day.

How does the morning start: with coffee and a croissant or with porridge on the water with a vegetable smoothie? No, from making the bed (35 kcal), showering (10 minutes – 40 kcal), preparing breakfast (75 kcal), washing dishes (50 kcal), make-up (60 kcal) with styling (141 kcal) and, of course, choosing and trying on clothes (93 kcal). If you have a dog, then walking with it will cost you 200 kcal for 40 minutes.

A trip to work will also not go unaccounted for. There are, however, many different options, so choose the one that is closest to you. So driving a car will cost you 90 kcal per hour, walking – 270 kcal, but a trip by public transport is 70 kcal if sitting, and 120 kcal if standing.

During the day, we can be involved in many activities, from writing letters (80 kcal/hour) and talking on the phone (50 kcal/hour) to talking with colleagues near the cooler (80 kcal/hour).

It is generally accepted that for an eight-hour working day, the average office worker, subject to mild stress, spends about 550 kcal. Such work includes various paperwork, telephone conversations, correspondence by mail and occasional walks to the kettle. In general, quite familiar things, without any excessive physical exertion.

Those who are employed in the field of education or service, that is, whose work involves a lot of movement and communication with other people, can spend from 1000 kcal per day. Such work requires that you spend a lot of time on your feet, you have to constantly move around the room and talk a lot, a lot, which, of course, is extremely energy-intensive. Plus, the stress associated with such work also affects the number of calories burned. However, those whose work is related to home care can spend the same amount per day. Cleaning, cooking and child care also fall into this category.

The biggest burners during the working day, of course, are those whose work is directly related to physical activity – loaders, workers, builders, repairmen, athletes. Here you can already talk about at least 2000 calories per working day.

It will also be interesting to note how much our brain burns per day. Studies show that in the absence of mental stress, the brain burns up to 400-500 kcal per day. If your work is connected with the need to solve certain tasks that require increased concentration and mental stress, then congratulations: your brain spends twice as many calories. Emotions increase energy consumption by 10-20% – experiences, joy, fear make the brain work with increased intensity.

In the evening, calorie consumption is the lowest of the day, which is quite logical, given that at the end of the day we prefer to take a break from business, doing relaxing things. Reading your favorite book for an hour will cost you 29 kcal, and watching TV 65 kcal. It is also interesting that 10-15 minutes of laughter can burn up to 50 calories. Some experts even compare 1 minute of laughter to 10 minutes of fitness.

While we sleep, the body continues its hard work. For 8 hours of healthy sleep, a person can spend about 560 kcal. However, such a volume is burned only on the condition that you go to bed in a relaxed, not stressful state, in a room with a comfortable cool temperature, and also on the condition that three hours before bedtime you did not eat anything fatty, sweet and very high-calorie.

Summing up

Any activity, whether active or passive, consumes energy.