There are two general reasons why your body burns calories. Your body first consumes calories in order to sustain your basic vital functions, a process known as your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. Activities like heart beat, brain activity, lung function and digestive system, among others, all account for BMR. Secondly, your body must burn calories in order to sustain muscle contractions required for everyday activity, including exercise. While your body doesn't distinguish between the need to burn calories for these two activities, you will always need to burn calories to maintain your BMR, while additional activity such as exercise is under your control. You can figure out how many calories you burn in a day simply by combining your BMR along with how much exercise you perform in a day.
Calculating Your BMR
Step 1
Calculate your basal metabolic rate as a man by multiplying your weight in pounds by 6.23, then multiply 12.7 by your height in inches. Subtract your age in whole years, multiplied by 6.76. Finally, add 66 to the overall number to find your BMR.
Step 2
Figure your basal metabolic rate as a woman by multiplying your weight in pounds by 4.35. Add your height in inches, multiplied by 4.7, then subtract your age in whole years, multiplied by 4.7. Add 655 to the final number to receive your BMR.
Step 3
Divide your BMR by 24 to figure out how many calories you are burning per hour.
Calculating More Calories Burned
Step 1
Click the link to the calories burned calculator from Healthstatus.net to go to their calories burned calculator.
Step 2
Input your weight, and time spent doing each activity applicable.
Step 3
Combine the number of calories you burn through exercise with the number of calories you burn as a result of your BMR to figure out how many calories you are using during a day.
Tips and Warnings
- You can use the BMI-Calculator.net's BMR calculator link provided in the resources section of this article to do the complex math needed to determine your BMR more easily.
- Following these steps to calculate how many calories you are burning does not take into account any offset by food calories consumed in a day.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
References
- National Center for Biotechnology Information: "A Biometric Study of Human Basal Metabolism"; J. Arthur Harris and Francis G. Benedict; 1918
- American Heart Association; Diet and Lifestyle Recomendations; 2010
- oint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Energy and Protein Requirements; Basal Metabolic Rate in Man; J.V.G.A. Durnin; 1981
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