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how many calories should i burn in a day

How many calories should i burn in a day

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12 REPLIES 12
I don't think there is really a should. I guess what I tend to do is strive for a certain activity level (10k steps, a certain amount of exercise, etc) and see what calorie burn that gives. One thing, some people have expectations of having a certain minimum deficit (either their bmr or 1200 depending on their advice source) and they might set too high a deficit for what they burn. In that case it can be helpful to have a minimum burn goal. Say you wand a minimum allowance of 1200, add your desired deficit to that number. for example: to lose 1/2 pound a week (1200 + 250)= 1450, to lose 1 pound a week (1200+500)= 1700, to lose 1.5 pounds a week (1200 + 750) = 1950, to lose 2 pounds a week (1200 + 1000) = 2200.

Sam | USA

Fitbit One, Macintosh, IOS

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It depends on the person, body size, gender, activity level.  There is supposed to be a formula, I'm not sure what it is but it's like 10x your ideal weight or something like that.  Typcially I've seen people try to stay under 2,000 calories a day. The Fitbit can help you determine a number based on the data you enter when you set it up.

 

You can always ask your doctor or a nutrionist, there's several health coaches on Fitbit user forums and they have been very good go-to people for questions/answers.


Good luck and keep moving!


D,

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Here's a link >  http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/fitness/xfile.jsp?item=/quiz/bmr/bmrfiles&ordersrc=googlesearch65932C...

 

that's from Fitness magazine, it should at least give you a starting point for approximate amount of calories you would eat each day. The amount you need to BURN depends on which way you want to go; eat more to gain weight, eat same to stay same and eat fewer calories to lose weight. Mostly common sense.

 

Also, watch WHERE your calories are coming from; Proteins burn calories and are good for you, Carbs are ok but too many and you'll gain weight. Fat calories, 'nuf said... it's fat...

 

Start reading labels on stuff you buy, it will tell you how many calories per serving, serving size, calories and calories from fat, etc. 

 

It's a "process" and you have to find what works for you,

 

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There are a lot of places to find calculations and advice on how to determine the most likely amount of calories, as many folks have already stated.

My basic philosophy is to lose weight, you have to take in less than you burn.

 

I picked the lowest BMR from advice from multiple sites as my minimum intake amount. Then, I experimented with the right amount of calories I needed to eat without binging late in the evening and still lose weight. Got to a total of 1500 calories a day.

 

Then, I use the Fitbit log to view my average over time to ensure I remain below the 1500/day and continue to burn more than I ingest.

 

I'm not melting away but my clothes keep getting bigger...about 1 lb a week over time.

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I talked  to my trainer a couple of weeks ago about this topic. Men burn more calories 1900 than women 2200, his recomindation is try to eat 5 small meals a day no more than a cup each cup, as a rule it is around 300 calories X 5 = 1500 calories this leaves around 400 less taken in, if you follow this you should loose 2 lbs per week. I work out 4 times a week for about 3 hrs each time, I have lost around 6 lbs give or take, the trainer also said that you can splirg once a week and also you can snack 1 cup 1 hr before you go to bed. So far so good for me 7 more lbs to go.

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@DarleneM wrote:

 

Also, watch WHERE your calories are coming from; Proteins burn calories and are good for you, Carbs are ok but too many and you'll gain weight. Fat calories, 'nuf said... it's fat...

 


Gotta comment on this fallacy.

 

Too much of any macro in surplus and you gain weight, eat less than you burn and you'll lose weight.

 

From purely weight loss point of view, doesn't matter what they are.

For adherence and nutrition, there are benefits though.

 

Fat is a very needed macro and because of fad diets has been misaligned, very needed for good hormones and body repair.

If doing high end aerobic/anaerobic exercise or endurance cardio, then carbs is needed for the required quick energy source.

Protein needed for repair too, but more than a certain amount doesn't provide more benefits, except personal perhaps in feeling full, which doesn't work for everyone.

While protein does take more energy to process than carbs and certainly fat, you'd have to move from one extreme diet to another for that difference to be meaningful.

Most will have more a difference in inaccurate logging then that would provide.

 

Otherwise good advice to read the labels. Kind of have to to log foods accurately.

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Although it's an old topic, calculating how many calories to burn a day is still a popular question so here is an overview:

 

To find out how many you should burn a day, you need to know 3 things:

1. How many calories your body needs per day to function doing nothing

2. How many calories you consume per day

3. How much weight you want to lose 

 

The first step is to calculate your BMR and then using the Harris-Bennict equation to find out how many calories your body needs per day for normal functioning.

 

The second step is to calculate how many calories you are eating per day (on average).

 

The third step is to calculate how many pounds you want to lose taking into account that 1 pound is 3500 calories.

 

The calculations:

Let's say that your daily calories needs are 1800 per day and you are currently consuming 2000 calories per day. If you want to lose 5 pounds in 3 months, you need to save 195 calories per day (5 x 3500 / 90)

 

This means that you need to burn 395 calories per day (2000-1800) + 195 through exercise. That's over and above the calories burned by your body for normal functions.

 

You can use an online calculator like this one to do the maths for you but what is important to understand is that calories burned are related with how many calories you are consuming and how much weight you want to lose.

 

Hope this helps!

 

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@myln wrote:

The first step is to calculate your BMR and then using the Harris-Bennict equation


Just as a side note: the underlying equation used by Fitbit is Mifflin-St.-Jeor, which is considered more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict (as it better takes into account recent changes in lifestyles). You can use this online calculator if you wish to use Mifflin instead of Harris.

Dominique | Finland

Ionic, Aria, Flyer, TrendWeight | Windows 7, OS X 10.13.5 | Motorola Moto G6 (Android 9), iPad Air (iOS 12.4.4)

Take a look at the Fitbit help site for further assistance and information.

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@myln wrote:

Although it's an old topic, calculating how many calories to burn a day is still a popular question so here is an overview:

 

To find out how many you should burn a day, you need to know 3 things:

1. How many calories your body needs per day to function doing nothing

2. How many calories you consume per day

3. How much weight you want to lose 

 

The first step is to calculate your BMR and then using the Harris-Bennict equation to find out how many calories your body needs per day for normal functioning.

 

The second step is to calculate how many calories you are eating per day (on average).

 

The third step is to calculate how many pounds you want to lose taking into account that 1 pound is 3500 calories.

 

The calculations:

Let's say that your daily calories needs are 1800 per day and you are currently consuming 2000 calories per day. If you want to lose 5 pounds in 3 months, you need to save 195 calories per day (5 x 3500 / 90)

 

This means that you need to burn 395 calories per day (2000-1800) + 195 through exercise. That's over and above the calories burned by your body for normal functions.

 

You can use an online calculator like this one to do the maths for you but what is important to understand is that calories burned are related with how many calories you are consuming and how much weight you want to lose.

 

Hope this helps!

 


I'm not sure why you'd go to all this work when you are using a Fitbit, besides which it's not totally accurate anyway.

 

You and that site use the term BMR incorrectly - that is calculated burn if you slept all day long.

Not really useful by itself because that doesn't happen to anyone that wakes up and needs to eat, but used in calculations for daily burn with an activity level it's the start of the calculation.

 

Not sure why you'd suggest guessing from 5 levels of TDEE calc when your Fitbit is there giving almost infinite and different values as the day is going along, as what really happens.

 

Also, the topic of this thread wasn't for figuring how many you burn per day - which the answer should be look at your Fitbit stats at the end of the day.

It was how many calories SHOULD I burn in a day.

 

Calories you burn is absolutely not related to amount eaten and amount to lose.

 

Calories you WANT to try to burn are related to how much you think you can sustainably adhere to eating, and how much you want to lose, and what is a reasonable rate for that amount.

 

So it would be easier to say - if you want to eat 2000 because that's what you can do without feeling so restrictive you'll binge and ruin it, and you want to lose 1 lb weekly which is reasonable for amount to lose, say 15-30 lbs, that's 500 cal deficit.

So you better burn 2500 per day through increased activity and exercise.

 

That's what you set Fitbit to for your goal of daily burn - which is the subject of this topic.

And if you don't reach 2500, you better plan on eating less.

 

And if you never seem to be able to do it - accept fact you may need to eat less than 2000 daily.

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Thank You for that info and link. That was so helpful. Lost 94 lbs of my 116 goal since last Oct 2018. Hit a plateau so I've doubled all my fitbit daily goals. Now I strive for 3500 calls a day and 20 to 30 thousand steps. Last 2 weeks. Not really losing yet. Almost there. I know I can do it and this help. Just need to give body time to react.  Again Thanks.    Tim. 💙💙

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In round numbers

1 gram of carb = 4 cal

1 gram of protein = 4 cal

1 gram of fat = 8 cal

https://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/how-many-calories-are-one-gram-fat-carbohydrate-or-protein

 

Again in round numbers

7.6 calories per minute walking

 

1 pd of fat = 3500 cal

 

 

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@Cold_Dog 

 

Fat has and is still avg 9 cal per gram. (may have been mistype)

 

And it's impossible to give a figure for calories burned per time of walking.

 

Without the massive inclusion of weight moved and distance traveled. Therefore highly variable per time.

 

I'm sure your response was to one of the many posts to this topic.

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