Calories Burned Daily Without Exercise
Whether your goal is weight loss, weight gain or just to maintain your current weight, it is important that you know exactly how many calories your body needs, before you can adjust your intake. Even without exercise, your body will burn a significant amount of calories, depending on your weight, gender and age. While your activity level is responsible for some calories burned, a large portion of the calories you burn each day have nothing to do with exercise.
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Caloric Intake
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Nutrition labels use two standard measures to calculate daily value percentages: a 2,000- or 2,500-calorie diet. In reality, the amount of calories you need (and will burn) each day may range from 1,500 to 3,500. For example, a 140-lb woman will burn about 1,980 calories without exercising.
BMR
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Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body needs at rest. Typically, this number is about 10 times your weight. A 140-lb woman burns about 1,400 calories at rest.
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Thermic Effect
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The thermic effect of food is the amount of calories our bodies need to consume and process our food, and includes chewing, swallowing and digesting. It accounts for about 10 percent of your total calories consumed. For a 140-pound woman, the thermic effect would burn 198 calories.
Activity Level
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Even a sedentary person will burn calories throughout the day. Talking on the telephone, sitting, driving and sleeping require some calories. Generally, a sedentary person will burn about 20 percent of their BMR. A 140-pound, sedentary woman who burns about 1,400 calories for her BMR, will burn an additional 280 calories without exercising.
Weight
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If you are trying to lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than your body burns, or burn more calories than your body consumes. If your body requires 1,980 calories, either reduce your caloric intake by 200 calories per day or increase your caloric expenditure by 300 calories through a moderate 30-minute workout.
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