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The number of calories you burn each day depends on several factors, including your height, weight, and activity level. Determining your daily calorie needs can help you reach your health goals.
You burn calories daily when you move around, exercise, and do your daily tasks.
Most female adults need
This article teaches you how to calculate your calorie needs based on your health goals.
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is a way to calculate how many calories you need to eat per day. It’s adjusted based on your sex, age, height, and weight to give a personalized estimation.
The starting point of the calculation is to find out your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Your RMR is the number of calories your body needs to function. It does not include your daily physical activity and other movements.
Once you calculate your RMR, you can multiply this figure by an activity factor based on your daily activity level — ranging from sedentary to very active — to determine the number of calories you need daily to maintain your weight.
Step 1: Calculate RMR
To calculate your RMR, use your sex, age, height, and weight to adjust the formula.
The formulas for
- For people assigned male at birth: 9.99 × weight + 6.25 × height – 4.92 × age + 5
- For people assigned female at birth: 9.99 × weight + 6.25 × height – 4.92 × age – 161
Step 2: Work out your activity level
Then, figure out your activity level. The activity levels the equation uses are as follows:
- 1.2: Sedentary (little to no exercise)
- 1.375: Lightly active (light exercise 1–3 days per week)
- 1.55: Moderately active (moderate exercise 3–5 days per week)
- 1.725: Very active (hard exercise 6–7 days per week)
- 1.9: Extra active (very hard exercise two or more times per day, training, or a physical job)
Step 3: Use the full equation
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is:
- RMR × activity level = calories needed to maintain weight
Simply multiplying the two values will produce an estimate of daily caloric expenditure.
The number of calories you should burn in a day depends on your personal health and fitness goals as well as other factors, like:
- age
- sex
- height
- weight
- activity levels
To lose weight
Losing weight requires a calorie deficit. This means eating fewer calories than your body needs, burning additional calories, or combining both.
For sustainable weight loss, an ideal calorie deficit is around
To maintain weight
If you want to maintain your weight, you’ll want to ensure your calorie intake matches your expenditure.
You’ll need to calculate your TDEE, which is the number of calories your body needs to sustain your current weight.
To gain weight
To gain weight, you need to be in a calorie surplus. This means you’re eating more calories than your body needs, expending fewer calories, or combining both.
As with a calorie deficit, you’ll want to do this slowly to ensure it’s healthy and sustainable. A mild daily calorie surplus of around
A person’s activity level has much to do with the number of calories they need daily.
Many people think they must exercise hard to burn calories throughout the day. While exercise burns many calories, your body also burns calories as you do daily tasks. How much you burn has to do with how much you weigh.
For example, people may burn close to the following in 30 minutes of doing these tasks based on their weight:
Calories burned in 30 minutes
| Task | 125-lb (56.7-kg) person | 155-lb (70.3-kg) person | 185-lb (83.9-kg) person |
|---|---|---|---|
| walking at 4.5 mph | 150 | 186 | 222 |
| cleaning the gutters | 150 | 186 | 222 |
| mowing the lawn | 135 | 167 | 200 |
| gardening | 135 | 167 | 200 |
| washing the car | 135 | 167 | 200 |
| walking at 4 mph | 135 | 167 | 200 |
| walking at 3.5 mph | 120 | 149 | 178 |
| playing with the kids (moderate activity) | 120 | 149 | 178 |
| grocery shopping (with cart) | 105 | 130 | 155 |
| cooking | 75 | 93 | 111 |
| sitting in meetings | 49 | 60 | 72 |
| light office work | 45 | 56 | 67 |
| computer work | 41 | 51 | 61 |
| standing in line | 38 | 47 | 56 |
| reading | 34 | 42 | 50 |
| watching television | 23 | 28 | 33 |
| sleeping | 19 | 23 | 28 |
Note that your exercise habits affect how many calories you burn at rest. While aerobic activity may burn more calories during the training session, researchers have found that resistance exercise increases resting metabolic rate for up to
You can use an interactive online calculator to find out how many calories you’ll burn while doing different activities. To use it, simply input your activity, the time spent doing it, and weight.
Yes, men and women burn calories at different rates. This is why sex is included as a variable in the equation, along with age and weight, which also affect the number of calories a person burns.
Men generally have less body fat than women. They also typically have more muscle mass, which means the body burns more calories at rest.
Men generally burn more calories than women overall. But a person’s body composition plays an important role, as do hormone levels.
How many calories do I naturally burn per day?
The number of calories you burn daily can vary based on many factors, including your sex assigned at birth, height, and weight.
- For people assigned male at birth: 9.99 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 4.92 × age + 5 = RMR
- For people assigned female at birth: 9.99 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 4.92 × age – 161 = RMR
How many calories do 10,000 steps burn?
The number of calories burned by walking 10,000 steps can vary depending on your sex, weight, and how long it takes. Walking faster generally burns more calories. You can use the following equation:
Calories burned per minute = 0.0175 x metabolic equivalent of task (MET) x weight in kilograms
How many calories do you burn doing nothing per hour?
A
The number of calories you need each day is unique to your body, lifestyle habits, and health goals.
While the average person needs roughly 2,200–3,000 and 1,600–2,200 calories per day, your needs may differ depending on your height, weight, and activity level.
Calculating your calorie needs can help you know whether you’re on track with your health and fitness goals.
If you’re looking for personalized recommendations or need support with specific health goals, you can talk with a healthcare professional who can give a more thorough assessment.