Your body naturally burns calories throughout the day, even when you are asleep. When you exercise, you add to this calorie expenditure. Therefore, if you are trying to calculate how many calories you burn during a day, you should first establish your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy you burn even when at rest. Then you can multiply this rate with an additional allowance for your activity level in an equation known as the Harris-Benedict equation to calculate how many calories you burn in a day.
Step 1
Calculate your BMR if you are a women using the following formula:
BMR = 655 + (4.35 * Weight in pounds) + (4.7 * Height in inches) - (4.7 * Age in years)
Step 2
Calculate your BMR if you are a man using the following formula:
BMR = 66 + (6.23 * Weight in pounds) + (12.7 * Height in inches) - (6.8 * Age in years)
Step 3
Select an activity level that corresponds with your daily activity expenditure:
Sedentary (you perform little to no exercise on a daily basis) = 1.2
Lightly active (you engage in an exercise session 1 to 3 days a week) = 1.375
Moderately active (you exercise 3 to 5 days a week) = 1.55
Very active (you participate in strenuous exercise 6 to 7 days a week) = 1.725
Extremely active (you exercise at a level equivalent to a professional athlete, exercising strenuously every day of the week) = 1.9
Step 4
Multiply your BMR with the number that corresponds to your activity level. The equation is:
BMR * Activity level = Total calories burned each day
Step 5
Use the number that results from Step 4 to determine your total calories burned each day. This is the amount of calories you could consume (assuming you maintained your current level of activity) during a day and not gain or lose weight.
Tips and Warnings
- If you wish to lose or gain weight, retool the formula using your goal weight or adjust the amount of activity you participate in to determine the number of calories you need to consume each day to reach your goal weight.
- Your basal metabolic rate does not take into account body composition. If you have a higher-than-average amount of muscle, you will likely weigh more yet burn calories more efficiently, since muscle burns more calories than fat.
Things You'll Need
- Weight in pounds
- Height in inches
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