A calorie is a unit of measuring energy just like length is measured in miles or meters. Our bodies require energy to do every activity irrespective of whether we are asleep or awake. You might be wondering "how many calories do I burn?” According to Len Kravitz, Ph.D., this depends on your level of activity. In short, the more active you are, the more calories you burn.

Get Your Daily Calorie Requirement Right

The energy, or the number of calories, we burn comes from the food we eat. For example, carbohydrates and proteins supply four calories per gram while fat supplies nine calories per gram. However, to find out how many calories you burn in a day, you need to have the right figures. You need your exact weight in pounds, your age in years, and your height in inches. These values are then keyed into an online calculator or even a manual system to get the number of calories you require per day.
The manual system is tedious, but it is more convenient since you don't require any machines to know how many calories do you burn a day. In our case, we shall use the Harris-Benedict formula as it is widely recognized. Using the variables as previously stated we will work on a simple example.

Example

We start by writing down the Harris-Benedict formula to calculate the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), this is the amount of energy or number of calories, we burn while sleeping or at rest and multiply this figure by our activity level.

• For men BMR= 66+ (6.2 x weight) + (12.7 x height) - (6.76 x age)
  
  
• For women BMR= 655.1+ (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) - (4.7 x age)

A case for a man

Assuming we have a male who is 30 years old, weighs 200 pounds, and is 6 foot tall (72 inches), then the BMR would be:
BMR= 66+ (6.2 x 200) + (12.7 x 72) - (6.76 x 30) = 2017.6 calories The activity level can either be:

• 1.2 ….Sedentary
  
  
• 1.375...Lightly active
  
  
• 1.55…..Moderately active
  
  
• 1.725…..Very active
  
  
• 1.9…..Extra active
  Assuming the man in question is moderately active we shall use 1.55 as our multiplier to get the daily calories required.
  Daily calories = BMR X 1.55 = 2017.6 x 1.55 = 3127 calories
  Using the online calculator, we get a BMR and a daily calorie requirement. As you can note there is not much difference, and thus both methods are fairly equal in calculating how many calories do I burn a day?

Factors Affecting the Number of Calories Burned

The amount of energy used to run our bodies is determined by a variety of factors as discussed below:

• Age
  Aging slows down the pace at which we do things. As we age, our muscles, tissues, and cells wear out. This leads to a slowed metabolic rate, which directly affects the number of calories we burn per day. These facts are further backed by a study on an elderly German population which validated the claims.
  
  
• Gender
  A person is either a male or a female. According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, men have more muscles and less body fat than women. The number of calories burned is thus dependent on the number of muscles. Based on this, men burn more calories than women.
  
  
• Activity level
  An activity can range from very light to very heavy. The heavier the activity, the more calories will be required to execute it. For example, pushing a cart requires more energy than typing on a computer.
  
  
• Weight
  The daily calories burned depends on the amount of weight you carry. The more weight you carry, the more calories you burn doing the normal daily activities, irrespective of whether you are resting or active.
  
  
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding
  A pregnant or a breastfeeding mother support another life through their body. Consequently, the basal metabolic rate has to go a notch higher to cater for the incapable being. This leads to burning more calories to support the other life.

How to Promote Calorie Burn?

After getting the solution to the question, "how many calories do you burn a day,” you can go ahead and increase the figures by increasing the activity level. This can be through:

• Exercise
  These are activities like weightlifting, rope jumping, running, and swimming that exert a pull or push pressure on the body. They help burn calories by helping to build muscles as well as raising the metabolic rate.
  
  
• Do not skip meals
  According to Jim White, member of the American dietetic association, skipping meals switches your body to starvation mode and the body slows down the metabolism process to conserve energy for the hard times ahead. Slowing metabolism will lead to fewer calories burnt.
  
  
• Get enough sleep
  According to Michael Breus, author of Good Night, a lack of sleep stresses the body due to the high cortisol levels, so the body starts to reduce the rate of calorie burn in order to save for the unknown. The leptin and Ghrelin hormones are also negatively impacted, and this can lead to overeating.
  
  
• Keep your room cool
  The body requires a certain temperature, which is estimated at approximately 37 degrees Celsius. When the environment is cooler, the body will have a harder time in keeping the body temperatures high. This process requires energy, and thus calories are used.

Keeping Fit Is a Commitment

An easy way to maintain a healthy body is by regulating the number of calories burnt. As such you need to ask the question, how many calories do I burn a day? This question can be easily answered using an online calculator to get the figure. Depending on the answer and the number of calories consumed, you can determine whether you need strategies to promote calorie burn. If you want to find more information about daily calories burning amount, please click here.