A commonly known formula for weight loss is burning more calories than you consume.
The weight-loss formula is simple, but the process of losing weight and keeping it off is more complicated than a math problem because there are several factors that can affect food intake and how many calories are burned during exercise. Therefore, it can be difficult to get accurate numbers.
Registered dietitians can help you develop a nutritious meal plan if you want to use a structured, numbers-based program for weight loss. If you want to develop and maintain a comprehensive plan to reach your health goals, understanding these six concepts about exercise calories will help you.
Should You Count Exercise Calories to Lose Weight?
The calories in/calories out model for weight loss can provide some people with a helpful sense of structure. In fact, one study found that this approach may produce slightly better results than a less structured plan.1
If you want to lose weight at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week, experts recommend that you maintain a negative calorie balance of 500-750 calories per day. Tracking your exercise calories can help you determine if you are reaching your target numbers.
Losing weight is not always easy and the “calories in/calories out” principle does not always work. For some people, it may trigger unhealthy eating or exercise habits.
These students become fixated on achieving a calorie deficit, seeing the number of burned calories as a marker of success. Some studies have found that college students who use fitness monitors and apps to track their calorie intake are more likely to develop eating disorders. These students become fixated on achieving a calorie deficit, seeing the number of burned calories as a marker of success.
This means connecting with how your body feels after working out and embracing the physical and mental benefits that come with it, rather than working out to change your body or to meet an external goal. If you're the type of person who gets stressing thinking about how many calories you're consuming, then you might want to try intuitive eating instead. Intuitive eating is basically where you go off of what your body is telling you it needs, rather than adhering to any sort of outside message about food. You can also use this same intuitive approach to working out. So instead of working out to change your body or to meet an external goal, you do it because it feels good and you're reaping the benefits, both mentally and physically.
There is no perfect diet that will work for everyone. The best approach to weight loss is one that meets your individual needs, takes into account your past experience with food, your preferences, and your long-term goals.
6 Factors That Can Affect How Many Calories You Burn
1. Body Weight
The heavier you are, the more calories you’ll burn per session,” says Kyle Gonzalez, a San Francisco–based certified strength and conditioning specialist and performance coach at Future. “Calories are just a measure of energy, so the more you weigh, the more energy it takes to move your body.” In other words, of two people with different weights, the one who weighs more will burn more calories, because they have a greater energy expenditure when moving.
As your weight decreases, your body burns fewer calories, which can lead to weight loss plateau or even regaining weight. However, this is not the only reason. A review explains that weight loss can also trigger other physiological adaptations, including the body's tendency to burn stored fat for energy (a process called fat oxidation), greater hunger due to higher levels of the hormone ghrelin, and less satiety as levels of the hormone leptin dip.
If you want to lose weight but are stuck at a plateau, working with a registered dietitian could help you reach your goal in a healthy way. Find a registered dietitian at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
It's important to remember that exercise is good for your health even if you don't lose any weight. A study published in October of 2021 showed that even though people generally don't lose weight from exercising, it does lead to better cardiorespiratory fitness. This is associated with a lower risk of premature death, regardless of weight.
2. Muscle Mass
Someone who has more muscle mass will burn more calories than someone else with the same weight but less muscle. “Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue,” says Jenaed Brodell, RD, a London-based private practice sports nutritionist. However, claims about how many calories a pound of muscle will burn are often overestimated. In reality, evidence suggests that a pound of muscle burns about five calories per day, while a pound of fat burns about two calories per day.
The following text is discussing how having more muscle mass will increase your total calorie burn. The more muscle mass you have, the more energy your body needs to produce to support the increased muscle contraction rate. Therefore, if you want to improve your calorie burn, you should focus on strength-training. However, it is important to note that everyone is different and some people may not be able to lift weights or may not have the same goals. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to choose how they want to exercise.
3. Birth Sex
Men generally burn more calories at rest than women. This is because they tend to be larger and have more muscle mass than women. During exercise, men tend to burn 5 to 10 percent more calories than women.
Even if you’re not planning to have a family, though, you’ll still hold on to some extra fat. The following text is a paraphrase of the original text. While women can build muscle through strength training, they will not be as lean as men due to physiological differences. Brodell explains that women are more likely to store fat due to hormone production and the possibility of childbearing. Even if a woman is not planning on having children, they will still have more fat than a man.
While it is true that having some body fat is necessary for good health, too much fat can lead to serious health problems. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences explains that too much body fat can interfere with functions such as storing energy, protecting internal organs, and supporting key functions like growth, immunity, hormone production, reproduction, and metabolism.
ACE states that men need at least 2-5% body fat to be healthy, while women need at least 10-13%. However, these minimums may not be sufficient. The most cited study on the topic suggests that a healthy range for adults younger than 40 is 8-20% for men and 21-33% for women. However, the relationship between health and body fat is complex and not fully understood.
Instead of worrying about how your birth sex affects your calorie burn, focus on the things you can control. “The bottom line is that both men and women should focus on building muscle and improving cardiovascular health with a well-balanced cardio and strength-training program,” Gonzalez says.
4. Age
The longer we live, the more muscle mass we tend to lose. After the age of 30, we lose 3 to 5 percent of our muscle mass each decade. Scientists aren't sure exactly why this happens, but it may be because the body becomes more resistant to the hormones that help promote protein synthesis, which is necessary for muscle maintenance. This loss of muscle mass then lowers our metabolism, meaning we burn fewer calories at rest and during exercise.
The resulting data showed no significant decrease in metabolic rate between the ages of 20 and 60. A study on human metabolism, published in the August 2021 issue of Science, found that metabolic rate may not decline throughout adulthood, but rather that it plateaus between the ages of 20 and 60 then begins its decline. In the study, authors measured the energy expenditure of 6,421 men and women between 8 days old and 95 years old using the doubly labeled water technique, the gold standard for this kind of measurement. The resulting data showed no significant decrease in metabolic rate between the ages of 20 and 60.
An expert says that a recent study on the subject of energy expenditure over the human lifespan does not necessarily disprove existing beliefs about metabolism. Rosen points out that it's hard to get an accurate measure of metabolism, and that there are many other factors that change as people age.
You can prevent your muscles from deteriorating by frequently lifting weights, according to Gonzalez. This will also help you to boost your metabolism, so you'll burn more calories even when you're not working out.
5. Fitness Level
If you do a certain type of workout regularly, it will become easier over time. This is because your body adapts and becomes more efficient at the task. This is a positive development, as it means you will be able to run faster or for longer, and lift heavier weights with training.
As you get more fit, you will burn fewer calories doing the same workout. This is because your body becomes more efficient and adapts to the training. To keep burning calories and improving your fitness level, you need to change up your workout routine.
6. Training Intensity
The number of calories someone burns during a workout may be different than someone else's because the intensity level of the workout may be different. High intensity workouts mean that a person is breathing heavily and can't talked, and these types of workouts burn twice as many calories in the same amount of time as someone doing a low intensity workout. Just because two people are covering the same distance or going through the same motions doesn't mean they are working out at the same level of intensity.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, walking has many of the same benefits as running when it comes to lowering blood pressure and reducing your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. However, a previous study found that adults who walked one mile burned roughly 89 calories, whereas adults who ran that same mile burned around 113 calories.
Use of low-intensity exercise for a minimum of 150 minutes per week leads to many health benefits, such as reducing anxiety, improving sleep, lowering blood pressure, and increased cardiovascular fitness, as stated by the DHHS. Adding higher-intensity exercises to your routine will help burn more calories and provide a greater magnitude of benefits. ACE suggests increasing your speed, range of motion, or weight used for strength-training exercises to improve the intensity of your workouts.
You shouldn't stress about things that you can't control. Exercising has many benefits other than just burning calories, so it's important to find types of movement that you enjoy and can keep doing. “The type of exercise that is best for a person depends on that person's goals, physical fitness, and abilities,” Brodell says.
