There are many factors that contribute to amount of calories your body will burn in a day. These factors include your age, sex, body size, weight, body composition and activity level. As you get older your body's ability to burn calories tend to slow down. Men usually tend to have less body fat and more muscle mass than women do. While your age and sex are things that you cannot control, your body size, weight, body composition and activity level are all things that can be controlled. There three components to determine how many calories your body expends each day; resting metabolic rate, the thermic effect of a meal and the thermic effect of activity.
Resting Metabolic Rate
Resting metabolic rate or RMR is your body's metabolic rate early in the morning following an overnight fast and eight hours of sleep. According to Physiology of Sport and Exercise, RMR is the minimal amount of energy expenditure needed to support basic life functions. It accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the you total energy expenditure in one day.
Effect of a Meal
When you eat a meal, it takes energy to digest, absorb, transport,metabolize and store the food. The authors of Physiology of Sport and Exercise state that the thermic effects of a meal accounts for about 10 percent of your total energy expenditure in a day. You may have noticed this occurring after a large meal when you start to feel tired and warm. This is your body burning calories to digest the meal.
Effect of Activity
Your physical activity is also a contributing factor of how many calories your body is burning in a day. This is the energy required that is above the RMR to accomplish a task. Physiology of Sport and Exercise states that this accounts for the remaining 15 to 30 percent of your daily caloric expenditure. The thermic effects of activity include everything from brushing your teeth to running a marathon.
Physical Activity
One of the best ways to control the amount of calories you burn in a day is through physical activity. The Mayo Clinic suggests regular aerobic exercise of at least 30 minutes a day, strength training and simply becoming more active in your everyday life. Shape magazine reported that by performing shorter duration, high-intensity cardio you will increase your body's ability to burn fat.
This type of cardio will not only burn calories while you are exercising, but you will continue to burn calories several hours after you have completed your workout. Strength training will burn calories while you are completely the activity and can also increase your resting metabolic rate. Mayo Clinic states that when you build muscle through strength-training you will increase your the amount of fat you burn. This is because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue does, which means that while you are resting you are burning more calories.
Nutrition
While you do burn calories while your body digests a meal, it's important not to over consume calories. You body will not burn everything you eat on it's own if you consume too much fat and sugar. Consuming a balanced diet of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and healthy fats will help keep you from over eating. Consuming five to six small meals a day you can increase the thermic effect of food, by requiring your body work on digesting food throughout the day, thus increasing the amount of calories your body will burn in a day.
References
- "The Physiology of Sport and Exercise"; Costill, Wilmore; 2004
- Mayo Clinic: Metabolism and Weight Loss: How you Burn Calories
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