The number of calories you need to burn each day depends on the number of calories you consume and your desired weight-loss rate. You can calculate your daily calorie expenditure from your activity level and physical measurements. This calculation is essential for losing weight at a healthy rate.
Weight Loss
Your calorie deficit is the difference between the number of calories you burn and the number of calories you consume. You should lose no more than two pounds per week, according to the National Institutes of Health. Each pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, so your calorie deficit shouldn't exceed 7,000 calories per week. This means that you should burn a maximum of 1,000 calories more than you consume each day.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Your calorie expenditure calculation requires you to determine your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. Your BMR is essentially the minimum rate at which you must expand calories in order to live. It doesn't include the calories needed for any type of activity, including the digestion of food.
Activity Level
Your activity factor is a relative measure of your actual calorie expenditure. Your BMR corresponds to an activity factor of 1.0, and your activity factor is 1.2 if you're relatively sedentary. You have an activity factor of 1.375 if you engage in light exercise up to three times a week and an activity factor of 1.55 if your lifestyle is moderately active. People who engage in vigorous exercise up to six times a week have an activity factor of 1.725, and a job that's physically demanding gives you an activity factor of 1.9. Multiply your activity factor by your BMR to obtain your daily calorie expenditure.
Formula
The Weill Cornell Medical College and provides standard formulas known as the Harris-Benedict equations to calculate your BMR. These formulas require your age in years, your weight in pounds and your height in inches. Women use the following formula: BMR = [4.347 x weight] + [4.7 x height] - [4.676 x age] + 655.1. Men use this formula: BMR = [6.25 x weight] + [12.71 x height] - [6.775 x age] + 66.5.
Calculation
Assume you're a 35-year-old woman with a sedentary lifestyle. You're 68 inches tall and weigh 153 pounds. Your BMR is [4.347 x 153] + [4.7 x 68] - [4.676 x 35] + 655.1 = 1,476 calories per day. Your activity level is 1.2, so your daily calorie expenditure is 1,476 x 1.2 = 1,771 calories per day.
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