How Many Calories Should I Burn a Day

  • Posted on in Fitness
How Many Calories Should I Burn a Day

Determining how many calories you burn can be a little overwhelming; however, there are many types of trackers that can help you determine what you are eating and how much physical activity you are performing each day. 

If you are trying to lose weight, you may be wondering how many calories you should burn each day. This number actually depends on a variety of factors. Calories are burned anytime your body moves, i.e. exercise, going about your day to day activities, etc. In addition to this, the body burns calories for basic functions like blood circulation, breathing, digestion, and other cellular processes. Determining the number of calories that should be burned daily depends on your diet, your weight, your activity levels, and your overall health.

How many calories should you burn in a day?

There is no one size fits all answer to this question. It depends on your overall health, underlying health conditions, your height, your weight, and your activity levels. In addition to this, your age, sex, and fitness goals can affect how many calories you should burn in a day.

Whether you are trying to maintain your current weight, lose weight, or gain weight, it is essential to get the vitamins and minerals that your body needs for optimal health. Eat a well rounded diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. In addition to this, a supplement like BioPharma Supplements will provide the nutrition your body needs for optimal health.

Weight loss

If you are trying to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. This is referred to as being calorie deficit. To ensure sustainable weight loss seek to consume 10 to 20 percent fewer calories than your body needs.

Example: Women typically need between 1600 and 2200 calories per day and men need between 2200 and 3000 calories per day. If your caloric need is 2000 calories, you should consume between 1600 and 1800 calories.

Although you can lose weight faster with a large caloric deficit, it can be difficult to maintain a low calorie diet for a long period of time as you will experience significant hunger. Furthermore, not consuming an ample amount of calories for optimal health can result in reduced metabolism.

Not consuming enough calories can also cause lean muscle loss, which can cause you to look even heavier. For best results, you should reduce your caloric intake by 10 to 20 percent and include strength training exercises to help preserve lean muscle while promoting fat loss.

To maximize your weight loss efforts, you must eat a well balanced diet loaded with nutrient dense whole foods, participate in regular physical activity, manage your stress levels, and ensure you are getting an adequate amount of sleep. If you are struggling to lose weight and keep it off, a doctor specializing in integrative medicine will work with you to create a weight loss plan that you can stick to. You will learn the importance of reading labels and choosing healthy alternatives. Additionally, you may be asked to keep a food journal to help track any foods that may be causing you problems. The journal will also help determine areas in your diet where improvement can be made.

Maintain your current weight

Are you looking for a way to maintain your current weight? This is accomplished by consuming the number of calories that your body burns. You can get an estimate on how many calories you can eat and how much you can burn based on your body weight. On average, your body will burn about 15 to 16 calories per pound of your body weight.

There are other calculations that can provide you with a more exact number of calories; however, this will get you a base idea. Keep track of your calories and try to maintain eating around the same number of calories each day If you notice you are gaining weight, cut some calories or increase your exercise levels. Conversely, if you notice you are losing weight, you will need to increase your calorie count.

Weight gain

If you need to gain weight, you must eat more calories than you burn. This is referred to as calorie surplus. As with weight loss, you want to slowly increase your calorie count by 10 to 20 percent for a slow, gradual weight gain.

Example: If you need 2000 calories per day to maintain your current weight, you will need to increase them by 10 to 20 percent to gain weight. Your total caloric count should be between 2200 and 2400 calories per day.

Eating too many calories and limiting your physical activity will cause weight gain; however, this can lead to excess fat accumulation and cause a number of health problems; therefore, it is essential to continue to exercise. To ensure you are gaining muscle rather than fat, you will want to incorporate strength training into your workout routine.

Activity levels and calorie counts

There are many things that can affect the number of calories that you burn each day. One of the primary things is your activity levels. Many people think the only way to burn calories is through exercise. Although exercise does burn quite a few calories, normal tasks also burn calories. The number of calories burnt also is determined by your weight. Here are a few examples of how weight can affect the number of calories burned.

Walking

Walking for 30 minutes is a great way to burn calories, build muscle, and

improve lung and heart health. An individual weighing 125 pounds will burn about 150 calories while someone weighing 200 pounds will burn around 225 calories.

Office work

Working in an office setting typically involves sitting in a chair and doing paperwork, working on the computer, or talking on the telephone. This type of work does not burn a lot of calories. An individual weighing 125 pounds will burn about 45 calories every 30 minutes. Conversely, an individual weighing 200 pounds will burn about 70 calories every 30 minutes. If you work in an office setting, you can increase the number of calories burned by getting up and moving around every 20 to 30 minutes. If you cannot leave your desk, do some exercises like leg lifts as you work. If possible, choose a standing desk, which will allow you to incorporate other activities into your daily routine as you perform light office work.

Determining how many calories you burn can be a little overwhelming at first; however, there are many types of trackers that can help you determine what you are eating and how much physical activity you are performing each day. A fitness tracker in the form of a wearable device or your mobile phone can help keep track of your activity levels. Pairing this with a food diary or a calorie tracking app can help you determine whether you need to decrease or increase your calories or activity levels.

An integrative doctor will work with you to create a custom diet and exercise plan based on your specific health goals, activity levels, and current health problems. This plan may also incorporate stress relief techniques and sleep recommendations to help you optimize your health and regulate your weight.

 

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