How to Burn 1,300 Calories a Day

A young woman is jogging.
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Burning 1,300 calories a day is a lofty fitness goal that can yield about 2.5 pounds of weight-loss per week if it is a calorie deficit. However, if you burn this many calories and only take in 2,000 calories per day, you may end up malnourished. Instead, 1,300 calories is a good goal for someone who eats significantly more calories than she needs or who is training for an event such as a marathon or weightlifting competition.

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Step 1

Calculate your basal metabolic rate. This is the minimum number of calories you need to take in each day to maintain your weight at your current activity level. For example, if you're relatively thin and sedentary, you might need significantly fewer calories than 2,000 each day. Your doctor can help you calculate this number. After you arrive at your BMR, ensure that 1,300 calories a day does not reduce your daily caloric intake so low that you're not getting sufficient nutrition. If it does, you'll need to increase the number of calories you eat each day.

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Step 2

Get 30 minutes to an hour of vigorous aerobic activity each day. For example, Harvard Health Publications reports that running 10 mph for 30 minutes will burn about 733 calories in a 185-pound person or 495 calories in a 125-pound person. Calculate the number of calories you'll burn with the activity of your choice, then subtract this number from 1,300 to determine how many more calories you need to burn in a day.

Step 3

Engage in regular strength training. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least two days of strength training per week. If you get strength training -- such as weightlifting -- on most days, however, you'll increase your muscle mass. With this can come an increase in your basal metabolic rate, making it easier to burn calories. Thirty minutes of weightlifting burns about 90 calories in a 125-pound person or 133 calories in a 185-pound person.

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Step 4

Purchase a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps each day by walking to the store, parking far away from your destination and taking frequent breaks to walk around your home or office. Walking 10,000 steps is equal to about five miles a day and can help you burn a few hundred extra calories.

Warning

Talk to your doctor before embarking on a rigorous fitness plan.

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