How Many Calories You Should Burn a Day
Calories might be among the most misunderstood aspects of our health and the ways our bodies work. Make no mistake, calories—the units of energy that power every single one of your bodily functions—are essential.
How many you need and the way you use them depends on a confluence of factors, primarily, your age, height, weight, gender, activity levels, and exercise routine. One pertinent question for anyone who has spent any time around popular fitness culture: How many calories you should burn a day?
To find a concrete answer to this nuanced question, we consulted Leslie Bonci, RD, a sports dietitian and owner of Active Eating Advice, whose clients include the Kansas City Chiefs. The good news for you is that finding out how many calories you should burn isn’t difficult. Once you have the answer, however, it’s up to you to work toward your goal.
How Many Calories Should You Burn?
You're constantly burning calories, just by existing. How many calories you consume vs burn daily depends on your body weight, goals, and activity levels. Your first step is to adjust your nutritional intake. The short answer, depending on the most basic goals, will be…
To lose weight: Create a daily caloric deficit of 350 to 500 calories. For most people, this means you should aim to expend more energy.
To maintain weight: Eat at your maintenance levels (see How to Calculate Your Calories below to understand what this means for you) and keep your activity levels about the same.
To gain weight: Create a daily caloric surplus of 250 to 500 calories and either decrease or maintain your current activity levels.
Bonci suggests losing half a pound to three-quarters of a pound per week if your goal is to decrease your body fat. 'It is important to understand that weight loss is not continuous,' she says. 'If one is too restrictive, it is too hard to maintain; consistency, awareness, and aiming to be 70 percent compliant [on your diet] is more sustainable.'
How to Calculate Your Calories
Calculating your caloric needs is fairly easy and can be done in three quick steps:
Find your basal metabolic rate (BMR) This is the number of calories your body burns performing necessary, life-sustaining functions—which you can do by using this free online calculator. The calculator will also add your activity level into the equation (be honest about this) to find the total number of calories you need to maintain your body weight.
Determine how quickly you want to lose (or gain) weight. A common rate of weight loss is one pound per week. Bonci’s suggestion of losing between half a pound to three-quarters of a pound per week, she says, is more sustainable. If you want to gain weight, aim to add half a pound per week.
Establish your caloric deficit. There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so you’ll divide that number by seven (for the days in the week), and eat 500 fewer calories daily to lose one pound per week. To adhere to Bonci’s suggested rate of weight loss, you’ll eat 375 fewer calories per day. Bonci notes 'that not everyone sees the same degree of weight loss even if they have the same calorie deficit.' (To gain weight at a rate of half a pound a week, you’ll consume 250 calories above maintenance daily.)
Based on the steps above, a 180-pound, 5’11” man who trains five times per week needs 2,650 calories daily to maintain his weight and would eat 2,275 calories per day to lose three-quarters of a pound weekly.
How to Estimate Your Calorie Burn
Determining how many calories you're burning isn't an exact science. Everyone's body is different, and multiple factors contribute to the way your body uses fuel. But there are some methods to estimate how many calories you'll burn for specific types of exercise and common types of movements, like household chores.
Understanding your basal metabolic rate is the first step. The second is to understand metabolic equivalents, or METs. These are a measure of your working metabolic rate versus your resting metabolic rate. METs are scaled.
<3 METs for light activity,
3 to 6 METs for moderate activity,
and >6 for vigorous activity.
One MET is the amount of energy you expend at rest, which equals one calorie per kilogram of body weight per hour. Our 180-pound (81-kilogram) man burns 81 calories every hour he just lounges around.
Your METs will multiply based on the activity you’re engaging in. Different forms of exercise performed at different intensities yield different METs. You can find an exhaustive list of these estimates for different activities here. Once you know your MET estimate, you can determine the total by using this formula: METS x 3.5 x BW(KG) / 200 = kcal per minute. So, if the 180-pound man were to go on a jog (7.5 MET value), that would look like this: 7.5(3.5)(81kg)/200 = 10.63 kcal/minute.
To make things even simpler, you can also use tools like this calculator to get an idea of how many calories you burn during various types of exercise. Just remember, you're always working with estimates.
Calories and Macros, Explained
Calories are the fuel that your body uses to perform every function, from walking to blinking to pumping blood to regulating your body temperature. They’re derived from the three principal macronutrients (or macros)—protein, carbohydrates, and fat. All food contains a combination of these macros, which are then converted into energy in your body after consumption.
Protein helps to repair and build new muscle mass, carbohydrates are usually converted into fuel to help your muscles run optimally, and fats play key roles in regulating hormonal and brain functions. After determining your caloric intake, you’ll divide that number into macronutrients; the right ratio of proteins to carbs to fats will help you maintain muscle mass as you lose weight and feel energised.
How to Find Your Macros
There are many ways to structure your macros, but Bonci suggests a 25/50/25 split, with 25 percent of your calories dedicated to protein, 50 percent to carbs, and 25 percent to fat. (Bonci’s protein suggestion is right in line with the official position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine, all of which suggest a protein intake of 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (or 0.53 to 0.75 grams of protein per pound)).
From there, finding your macros is a simple math equation. There are four calories per gram of protein and carbohydrates and nine per gram of fat. Knowing these numbers is essential for finding your macros. Sticking with the example above of our 180-pound man eating 2,275 calories per day, his macros would look like this:
Protein: (2,275 x .25) / 4 = 142 grams
Carbohydrates: (2,275 x .5) / 4 = 284 grams
Fat: (2,275 x .25) / 9 = 63 grams
Tips For Managing Your Calories
Whether you’re gaining, maintaining, or losing weight, these four tips can help you stay on track and expedite your progress.
Increase your NEAT
'Non-exercise activity thermogenesis is calories burned over the day [unrelated to their planned workouts],' explains Bonci. 'Say someone works out for an hour but then sits on their ass all day; their body is not very efficient versus walking more over the day.' The solution is simple: 'move more', says Bonci. 'Through walking, fidgeting, dancing.'
Let’s stick with walking as an example. If you’re already accumulating 5,000 steps daily, try increasing your daily step count to 10,000. Our 180-pound man would, theoretically, burn roughly 225 extra calories per day by upping his daily step count from 5,000 to 10,000 daily. That means he’ll burn half a pound of additional fat per week or the same amount of body fat while allowing himself to fuel his body with a more comfortable amount of food while still reaching his weight loss goals.
Lift Weights
If you want to build muscle, then you must combine a caloric surplus with resistance weight training. Lifting weights breaks down your muscle tissue, and the additional calories aid your muscles in rebuilding to become bigger and stronger over time (specifically in the form of protein). If you’re in a caloric deficit, weight training helps you preserve your existing muscle mass. (Men’s Health has thousands of workouts for you to try.)
Choose the Right Foods For Your Goal
Some foods are more calorically dense than others, and your goals—losing, maintaining, or gaining weight—will dictate your food choices. If you’re in a deficit and feel hungry often, try to eat foods that provide more volume per calorie, Bonci says: green vegetables, potatoes, poultry, lean steaks, and liquid-based foods such as soups and chilis.
'Also, think about your eating habits,' she adds. 'Take the time to sit, chew, and swallow, so it takes longer to eat, which helps with satiety. And start your meals with salads, a piece of fruity, raw veggies, even a glass of tomato soup to help take up real estate in your stomach so that you’re more aware of portion control.'
On the other hand, some people find it hard to eat all the required food in a surplus. If that sounds like you, opt for calorically dense foods, full-fat dairy, nut and seed butter, avocado, and olive oil. Be aware of your serving sizes, though, Bonci warns. Two tablespoons of olive oil and peanut butter pack 140 calories each.
Live a Little (Within Reason)
As long as you eat your prescribed number of calories, you’ll gain, lose, or maintain weight, regardless of the foods you consume. Pizza, burgers, and chips aren’t off the table. That said, because these foods pack a lot of calories and do little to satiate you, they’re not the best daily options, especially if you’re eating in a deficit.
Instead of planning a cheat meal where you sit down to gorge yourself on an entire pizza, Bonci suggests letting your 'off-plan' meals occur naturally, whether you find yourself at a company happy hour or a friend’s birthday party. 'Be in the moment when you choose those higher-calorie foods; slow down and savour them,' she says. Yes, you’ll need to exhibit discipline to reach your goals, but it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing affair. 'One meal does not derail a consistent eating pattern, so rather than thinking ‘I blew it, so I may as well eat everything.' Enjoy it and move on.'
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