Nutrition

How Many Calories Do You Burn In A Day? 

And How Can You Increase That Number

How many calories are you burning on a daily basis?

If you are wanting to lose body fat, how can you increase the number of calories you’re burning on a daily basis?

The answer is not just to do more exercise.

And to lose body fat, it’s not just about eating less. 

It’s about understanding how your metabolism works and how to make it work for you.

It’s about making decisions that are smarter, not harder.

Let’s talk about the 4 components that make up how many calories you burn on a daily basis. 

Let’s define them, talk about the level of impact they have, and about how your lifestyle can influence those numbers.

The first phrase to define is called Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. This is simply that - the total amount of energy someone burns in a given day.

And TDEE is made up of 4 different things that all account for different percentages of overall daily caloric burn: The first is:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is how many calories your body burns at rest. This includes things like breathing and maintaining internal body temperature.

BMR accounts for 60-70% of TDEE

2. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

NEAT includes walking, playing with your kids, going up and down the stairs, fidgeting, etc. 

NEAT accounts for 15-50% of TDEE

3. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)

EAT includes your planned exercise. Think of going on a run, strength training, doing a cycling class, or yoga class, etc.

EAT accounts for 15-30% of TDEE

4. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

When you eat, your body needs to break the food down, assimilate it, and absorb it. TEF is how many calories your body burns when going through that process.

TEF accounts for 8-15% of TDEE

If someone burns 2,000 calories in a day, here might be an example of where those 2,000 calories came from:

BMR = 1,200
NEAT = 400
EAT = 300
TEF = 100

These 4 factors are what determine how many calories your body burns on a daily basis. 

All 4 of them are modifiable to different degrees. But all 4 of them are nearly impossible to get an exact number on.

Making it very hard to know how many calories your body is actually burning.

Let’s talk about each one individually and how you may be able to modify that number so that you can increase the number of calories you’re burning on a daily and weekly basis.

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is adaptable and when it adapts it’s called Metabolic Adaptation. This is when your body changes the amount of calories it needs to function on a daily basis. 

If your body becomes more efficient at burning calories, it means your body needs less calories to operate therefore your BMR will go down. This can happen if you are constantly dieting or constantly in a caloric deficit. 

Your body realizes it’s not getting as many calories as it used to, so it becomes more efficient and holds onto that energy as best as it can and doesn’t burn as much. An example of this would mean that you used to burn 1500 calories at rest, but now your body only burns 1200 calories at rest. 

Your BMR can actually go up, too. If your body weight goes up, your BMR goes up.Now, most of you reading don’t want to increase your body fat, so the way that you would want to do this is to have more muscle. Muscle burns a lot of energy and can help you burn more calories at rest.

2. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Some people refer to NEAT as just things like fidgeting, moving around your house, and basic movements like that. I personally like to refer to it as anything that is not a planned run, strength training session, or fitness class. Meaning I include walks outside, walking into the grocery store, going up the stairs, etc. 

If you are sitting on your butt for hours on end at work, your NEAT is relatively low. If you are moving around a lot, going up and down stairs, going for walks after meals, playing around with your kids, parking in the back of parking lots, etc. then your NEAT goes up and you’ll burn more calories. 

For example, a typical 1-hour walk might burn anywhere from 200-350 calories depending on your body weight, your pace, and the incline of the walk. 

3. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)

The biggest misunderstanding people have is overestimating the importance of burning calories during exercise. As previously stated EAT only accounts for 15-30% of your daily caloric expenditure and for some people it only accounts for 5-10%. 

If you compare different types of exercise and the amount of calories burned, then generally speaking you will burn more calories doing cardio vs. strength training if equated for time spent. 

However, it’s not as big of a difference as you think. Personally I might burn around 600 calories in a 1-hour cardio focused workout. While I might burn around 400 calories in a 1-hour strength training focused workout. That is not a very big difference in the grand scheme of things. 

And that’s only taking into account the calories burned while exercising. 

It’s not considering what I mentioned in BMR - when you have more muscle you will be burning more calories at rest. Cardio does not lead to more muscle, strength training does. So while yes, cardio burns more calories in the moment, muscle burns more calories at rest.

4. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

This is the amount of energy your body burns when digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the food you eat. The Thermic Effect of Food is measured as a percentage of the energy provided by it.

- Fat provides 9 calories per gram. Its TEF is 0-5%
- Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram. Its TEF is 5-15%
- Protein provides 4 calories per gram. Its TEF is 20-30%

So protein has a much higher thermic effect of food. Meaning your body is working harder to digest, absorb, and metabolize it. In relation to your entire TDEE, your TEF is not a crazy amount. But any little bit can help you on your fat loss journey.

Conclusion

As you can see each of the 4 factors of your total daily energy expenditure can be modifiable:

- Your BMR can increase with more muscle mass
- Your NEAT can increase by being more active and going on more walks
- Your EAT can increase by exercising more regularly
- Your TEF can increase by eating more protein

But remember, each of these influence the other, they don’t happen in a vacuum.

The best way to boost your metabolism is by prioritizing protein, building muscle, living a more active lifestyle throughout the day, and adding in the appropriate dosage of cardio and strength training based on your goals.

Metabolism is influenceable.

Make smart decisions so your body can work for you rather than against you. 

If you want more specific help to help you lose body fat at the start of 2024, then sign up for the January 22nd 10-Week Transformation so you can look and feel like the best version of yourself in 10 weeks. 

All you have to do is go to nickcarrier.com/10wt to sign up today.

Your metabolic health is super important; take care of it.

Nick

Follow Nick on Social:

Start Your Virtual 10-WT FREE Trial! 

1. Learn the 5 Steps to Goal Success
2. Complete 3 Video Workouts 
3. Learn How to Plan Your PILS

Start Your Virtual 10-WT FREE Trial! 

1. Learn the 5 Steps to Goal Success
2. Complete 3 Video Workouts 
3. Learn How to Plan Your PILS

Prefer to Listen to this Episode?

Powered By ClickFunnels.com