-500 calories?

[january]

I have often heard that when it comes to burning calories the "sweet spot" is -500 calories. So that means if my intake is 1500 calories, I'm going to have to burn 2000 calories? Woah! I just barely burn 400 calories when I do 20min of cardio on the elliptical machine. I'm not sure how many calories I burn when I do weight/strength, training, but I doubt it all equals to -500.

This seems a little far-fetched to me. Can someone please explain to me in detail on how exactly a person can achieve -500 calories? I feel like I'm missing something...

 

[TikTak]

Looks like you compleytly neglected the BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) the amount of calories the body burns during 24 hours of rest. These calories are burned to keep the body temperature above the environmental temperature and by the heart beating, respiration and body functions of the liver and kidneys etc. The value of BMR is individual and is dependent on a persons weight, height, age and gender. Typical values range from 1300-3000+ kcal mostly due to different body weights.

Here is a calculator that estimates the total calories burned during 24 hours (including BMR) at different activity levels.

Estimated Calorie Requirements

Hope this helped!

 

[january]

Thanks TikTak, to be honest, I never even heard of BMR. It all makes a little bit more sense now, but it seems to good to be true that my body naturally burns so many calories.