Deficitly
Open the calculator
How many calories do I burn a day?
Most women burn about 1,600–2,200 calories a day and most men about 2,200–2,700, depending on body size, age and how much they move. The average American woman (age 40, 161 cm, 77.5 kg / 171 lb) walking 5,000 steps a day burns about 1,880; the average man (age 40, 175 cm, 90.6 kg / 200 lb) about 2,390. About 76% of it is your body just keeping itself running.
Average calories burned per day by age
| Age | Women161 cm, 77.5 kg | Men175 cm, 90.6 kg |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 2,000 | 2,510 |
| 30 | 1,940 | 2,450 |
| 40 | 1,880 | 2,390 |
| 50 | 1,820 | 2,330 |
| 60 | 1,760 | 2,270 |
| 70 | 1,700 | 2,210 |
Where your calories go
| Part | Calories | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Resting burn (BMR) | 1,420 | 76% |
| Daily life (standing, chores) | 140 | 8% |
| Steps | 130 | 7% |
| Digesting food | 190 | 10% |
| Total | 1,880 | 100% |
Most of what you burn happens without you noticing: keeping your heart, brain, organs and body temperature going. Movement is the part you control, and for most people steps make a bigger difference than workouts. More on each part: resting burn (and how it differs from TDEE), steps and the TDEE formula.
What changes how many calories you burn
- Body size: a bigger body burns more at rest and on every step.
- Muscle: more muscle means a slightly higher resting burn; it's one reason men burn more than women of the same weight.
- Age: the formula takes off about 5 calories a day per year, mostly reflecting muscle loss (what research says).
- Daily movement: steps, standing and chores (NEAT) vary more between people than anything else, often by several hundred calories a day.
- Exercise: real, but smaller than many think once you count only the extra calories: an hour of brisk walking is about 290 extra at 77.5 kg (171 lb). Look up any activity in the calorie burn calculator.
How many calories should you burn a day?
There's no number you "should" burn. What matters for your weight is the difference between what you burn and what you eat (calories in, calories out): burn more than you eat and you lose weight, about 7,700 calories per kg of fat. A gap of about 500 calories a day loses roughly 0.45 kg (1 lb) a week. You can make that gap by eating less, moving more, or both; for most people eating a bit less does most of the work and steps help. See how many calories to eat to lose weight and the maintenance calorie calculator.
Calories burned sleeping and sitting
Asleep, you burn about your resting rate: BMR ÷ 24 per hour. For the average woman above that's about 470 calories over 8 hours of sleep, and about 600 for the average man. Sitting quietly burns only a little more than lying down (about 1.3 times resting, according to the Compendium of Physical Activities), which is why long sitting days keep your total low.
Do you burn the same every day?
No. An active day with a long walk or a workout can burn several hundred calories more than a lazy one. For planning, use your average over a week: your typical daily steps and your weekly workouts, averaged out. That's how the calculator above and the full maintenance calculator work.
Is the number accurate?
It's an estimate, usually within about 10% for most people. The truest number comes from your own data: eat steadily for 3–4 weeks and watch your weight trend. See how accurate TDEE calculators are.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anthropometric reference data for children and adults: United States, 2015–2018. Vital Health Stat 3(46), 2021.
- Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024;13(1):6-12. doi:10.1016/j.jshs.2023.10.010
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 1990;51(2):241–247.