Calories Burned In A Day

portrider said:

How many calories does a person burn in a day? I recently started tracking my caloric intake and burn on Fit Day.com. According to Fit Day I'm taking in around 2000 a day and burning anywhere from 4500 to as high as 5700! For today I've taken in 1300 so far but haven't had dinner yet. But my burn is 5700. Is that possible? 5700 breaks down like this - 2300 basal - 1250 lifestyle - 2149 activities. I did go for a 3 hour 35 mile ride this morning but even on days when I only do 10 miles my burn is around 4500. It just doesn't seem right to me. Can someone explain calorie intake vs burn to me?

Thanks

9300 Kca after doing the Marmotte ..

Depends on your physical characteristics and body/metabolic type portrider

What is your height, weight, metabolic type, body fat %, etc... and what are you goals ? ? ?

Just throwing out a bunch of caloric numbers doesn't mean anything portrider without some background info to work with. Caloric calculations just give you ballpark figures... working with a nutritionalist would likely be of benefit if your really concerned with getting accurate numbers.

If you really want to hear some frightening numbers talk to a randoneer after finishing a 1200km race like Paris-Brest-Paris, heh.

fallen^sparrow 🙂

I put height & weight in my profile. My goal is to lose weight and I am. What I don't understand is that if I didn't exercise my burn would still be about 3500 calories and intake would be around 2000, I'd lose weight? That wasn't happening. I'm confused on metabolism! More surfing the net to figure it out.

Thanks

portrider said:

I put height & weight in my profile. My goal is to lose weight and I am. What I don't understand is that if I didn't exercise my burn would still be about 3500 calories and intake would be around 2000, I'd lose weight? That wasn't happening. I'm confused on metabolism! More surfing the net to figure it out.

Thanks

I've actually heard that tracking caloric intake is extremely difficult because people almost universally miscalculate the size of the portions they are eating. I guess you could get around this by only eat / drinking pre-packaged things, but if you're not look at how you're arriving at your intake numbers, that might be a source of errors.

Also, I don't think everyone is created equal in terms of calories required...I definately require much less food than others my size and fitness level.

portrider said:

5700 breaks down like this - 2300 basal - 1250 lifestyle - 2149 activities. I did go for a 3 hour 35 mile ride this morning but even on days when I only do 10 miles my burn is around 4500. It just doesn't seem right to me. Can someone explain calorie intake vs burn to me?

Thanks

There is almost no way you are burning 4500 calories per day net just by being alive and putting in a ten mile bike ride.

And if you were, you would be losing a pound of body weight per day which would, over time, be very unhealthy.

I would guess that you are correct on the basal, about 2300 sounds right if you are more than 200 pounds like me. However, I ride about 15-20 miles per day and my heart rate monitor tells me that I burn about 1000 to 1200 on the bike. Unless you are doing more activities than your ten mile ride, 2149 calories seems a bit high.

On the lifestyle end of it, how do you figure that you burn 1250 calories? Are you very active beyond just the biking? I'm guessing the 1250 and 2149 may have some overlap.

I couldn't see any of your numbers listed in your profile Portrider.

"Lifestyle" I suspect is calories burned throughout the day which aren't basal or training specific (ie calories burned while working etc). My basal rate is around 1750 calories (I'm fairly light, 145'ish) and working very physical jobs, my lifestyle is generally around ~1500 - 2000 calories. Throw in an 1 to 3 hour rides in the evenings and the total numbers can climb up there fairly fast. Losing a pound a day for myself is a real threat, and one I seem to constantly have to guard against.

fallen^sparrow 🙂

I'm 6'4" 250 pounds. When I started dieting and exercising last July I weighed in at 348 pounds. I went in the hospital for hernia surgery and couldn't excerise for 3 months. I've been losing about 2 pounds a week. I followed FitDays set up. The 2300 is basal. The 1250 comes from lifestyle - which I take to mean work etc. The 2149 comes from actives other than work etc - I did a 3 hour - 35 mile ride. FitDay gave me that number. It's not always that high. I think there is some overlap as well. It just didn't make sense to me.

portrider said:

I'm 6'4" 250 pounds. When I started dieting and exercising last July I weighed in at 348 pounds.

If you have ever been very fat, very skinny, or very (very very) active. The coralations they use for your basil will be WAY off.

I am 6'1" 195 lbs, and I lose weight if I eat less than 4500 Cal/day; lifting wieghts, coupled with running/cylcing a lot will make your basil go through the roof.

Also, loosing wieght quickly (which it sounds like you did) has been known to drop basil rates.

portrider said:

I'm 6'4" 250 pounds. When I started dieting and exercising last July I weighed in at 348 pounds. I went in the hospital for hernia surgery and couldn't excerise for 3 months. I've been losing about 2 pounds a week. I followed FitDays set up. The 2300 is basal. The 1250 comes from lifestyle - which I take to mean work etc. The 2149 comes from actives other than work etc - I did a 3 hour - 35 mile ride. FitDay gave me that number. It's not always that high. I think there is some overlap as well. It just didn't make sense to me.

I was always confused by this, too. My stationary bike has a computer on it, and it says I burn 1230 cals a session (26.3 miles @21-23 mph average, for 75 mins.) Not sure how accurate that is, but I do it at a moderate resistance which matters too. Add that 5 days/wk in with the bike rides I do (two today alone, in addition to the regular workout), and maybe ALL of it adds up to 1230. I just dont see HOW I'm burning 1230 cals on an exercise bike a day.

BTW I was also once very heavy, like you were (I was 305 lbs in 2001). I'm down to 145 lbs now, from doing my exercise bike, regular bikes, and eating right (smaller portions, lowfat, high complex carb, lots of water, yada yada yada). Remember, its a lifestyle change you have to do, not a diet. Hang in there, with the other situation too, btw. 🙂

HellonWheels said:

I was always confused by this, too. My stationary bike has a computer on it, and it says I burn 1230 cals a session (26.3 miles @21-23 mph average, for 75 mins.) Not sure how accurate that is, but I do it at a moderate resistance which matters too. Add that 5 days/wk in with the bike rides I do (two today alone, in addition to the regular workout), and maybe ALL of it adds up to 1230. I just dont see HOW I'm burning 1230 cals on an exercise bike a day.

BTW I was also once very heavy, like you were (I was 305 lbs in 2001). I'm down to 145 lbs now, from doing my exercise bike, regular bikes, and eating right (smaller portions, lowfat, high complex carb, lots of water, yada yada yada). Remember, its a lifestyle change you have to do, not a diet. Hang in there, with the other situation too, btw. 🙂

Couple things. Calories burned during a certain activity are actually dependent upon your weight (I know Concept II rowing machines are calibrated to read of calories for someone around 190lb). Some of these sources you're getting estimates from maybe aren't taking that into account?

The other thing being a theory I have, which is that exercise equipment that is targeted at gyms inflate their calories burned readout. I mean, everyone likes the machine that tells them they burned 500 calories in 30 minutes with fairly minimal effort...gym ends up buying more of them...