Calculating your calorie consumption – Here’s how it works!

2 min

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By Undine Tackmann
December 17, 2019

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To maximize your training results, it is important to familiarize yourself with calories and know how many your body needs. Learn how to measure your ideal calorie consumption here.

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HOW IS CALORIE CONSUMPTION CALCULATED?

Calorie consumption is the number of calories you burn over the course of the day. But metabolisms vary from person to person. First of all, your metabolic rate is actually grouped into two categories: basal and performance metabolic rates. Both are affected by different factors like your height, weight, and age. Your activity level, i.e. whether you sit in the office all day or walk around a ton, also plays a role. The sum of both will then be your daily calorie requirement.

BASAL METABOLIC RATE + PERFORMANCE METABOLIC RATE = CALORIE CONSUMPTION

After you’ve done the math on how many calories you require in a day, it’s important to adjust that number to your target. If you’re looking to lose weight, you should have a moderate intake deficit and eat fewer calories than you burn. When building muscle, on the other hand, a calorie surplus is an advantage.

WHAT BURNS THE MOST CALORIES?

JOGGING

When it comes down to efficiency, jogging is definitely at the top of the list. Half an hour of jogging at a moderate pace burns about 364 kcal.

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BIKING

If you ride your bike to work every morning, you can burn off approximately 46 calories for half an hour. So if you cycle for a total of one hour, that’s another 102 kcal that you burn every day.

SWIMMING

Fans of swimming will be pleased: just half an hour can burn about 50 calories. So it’s definitely worth your while to get those laps in!

WALKING

Walking for 30 minutes is not only relaxing but also burns about 30 calories. If you walk at a faster clip, you can burn a few more.

INFOGRAPHIC

What burns the most calories? Here are our Top 3:

SUMMARY

The way your body burns calories is grouped into basal and performance metabolic rates. It’s influenced by your individual activity level. Overall, running burns the most calories, but cycling, swimming, or even vigorous gardening are also great ways to get some exercise.

Sources for this article

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