Calories burned, a few questions.

G

Geordie1

New member
Hello all.

Just a few quick questions any answers or atleast pointing me in the right direction would be great.

1) I am currently about 195lbs, doing no exercise how many calories would I burn in a normal work day (I appreciate this differs for everyone) but (a quick sub point) is it about the 2,400 (for men) reccomended daily intake, which would be about 100 cal/ph?

2) To lose 1lb pw, you have to burn an extra 3,500 cals pw or remove this from your diet (or a combination of both), is this correct? Eg 500 cal pd.

3) So finally if I take an average day (no gym exercise, but including my cycle to and from work) do the following sums make sense in theory?

1hr cycle 607 cals (measured by polar heart monitor over 1 week period to find average).
23 hours x 100 cal/ph = 2300
Total expended = 2,907

So if I consumed 2,407 or less pd I should over a week drop 1lb (more burned, less consumed, I should drop more)?

Is this correct or have I grasped the wrong end of the stick.

Actually typing it out has made me realisse I am probably on the right lines but any advice would be welcomed.
 
1) I am currently about 195lbs, doing no exercise how many calories would I burn in a normal work day (I appreciate this differs for everyone) but (a quick sub point) is it about the 2,400 (for men) reccomended daily intake, which would be about 100 cal/ph?
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The standard is to use the Harris Benedict equation, which takes your age, gender, height, and weight into consideration. A calculation based on those figures will give you your BMR (what you need to exist and maintain basic body functions). Then you get your maintenance weight by multiplying that figure based on your level of activity.

However, an easy way to do it w/out using H-B is to simply use a multiplier of 14-15 calories per pound of body weight for someone who is moderately active. I've found that 90% of the time, using the multiplier is accurate to w/in 100 calories either way.

So for example, if you are moderately active, I'd say your maintenance would be around 2925 calories. To lose reasonably, I'd say drop that by 30%, which would give you a figure of 2000 calories to lose.

2) To lose 1lb pw, you have to burn an extra 3,500 cals pw or remove this from your diet (or a combination of both), is this correct? Eg 500 cal pd.
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Technically yes. But keep in mind that the scale measures more than just fat. Water weight and other things can skew those figures.

Yeah, your figures look good to me.

The thing you have to remember about calories is that they're an estimate. Also they don't hold exactly the same from day to day. Your daily intake/output can vary by quite a bit, even if you don't do anything differently. If the weather changes, your body adapts by keeping warmer/cooler. That will affect your calorie level. Heck, getting up and going to the bathroom a few extra times a day will affect your calories. And these are all little bitty things, but they can add up. So you have to sort of accept that if you calculate you've burned your 3500 calories this week - you could have burned more or less ... but in the long run it all sort of evens out as long as you're consistent.
 
Thanks

Thank you very much for the response.

I had guessed I was on the right line, but kept getting confused, by the fact my average daily calorie burn through exercise is 700, but I am consuming about 1800/1900 per day, so I was not taking in to account calories burned through general life.
 
Yeah, a lot of people leave that out. :)

I'll use my daily averages for an example.

My maintenance calories are ~2338 (167 lbs x 14 calories)
I try to eat 1600 a day.
That right there gives me a deficit of 738 calories per day, which would be 5166 calories or about 1.5 lbs a week.
If I burn around 400 calories in working out, that raises my deficit to 1138 per day, which would be 7966 calories / a little more than 2 lbs per week.

Of course I don't always eat exactly 1600 calories and I don't work out every single day. And my free day skews that higher.

But, if I kept to my plan perfectly every single day, and not considering water weight, sodium, monthly fluctuations, etc. ... I could easily average 2 lb a week.
 
cheers, it really helps by speaking to someone who knows what they are talking about.
 
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