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Our body is constantly building, repairing and regulating cells, whether we exercise or not.
So our bodies are taking care of itself.

I'm a male, 5'6 tall and I weigh 74 KGs,
I have a desk job, but I exercise 2-3 times a week(light running, push-ups and basic dum bell workout).

I want to know approximately, how many Calories does the human body naturally burn per day?,
just for maintenance and keeping us alive?

Eg. If the body burns 1500 calories a day irrespective of what I do -

100(breakfast) + 500(lunch) + 400(dinner) - 1500(default) - 200(light exercise) = -700 ie. calorie deficit

I want to be in a calorie deficit,
so I can plan how much calorie intake should I take and yet rely on the body to at least not get me fat, even if I happen to skip a workout

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5
  • You can google this in a couple of seconds, less time than opening a question here. You will also find a lot of videos of people explaining it. So I'm sure that you've tried that beforehand at some point. What did you not understand? Do you perhaps have doubts about the information you have been given? A lot of what you will find about this topic is just wrong. You can profit from this format by asking very specific or personal questions.
    – Raditz_35
    Apr 8, 2020 at 20:42
  • @Raditz_35 most sites give a vague answer like you need to consider this, that and 10 other things, but I want to know approx, from what I have found out its approx 2000 calories a man's body burns just to stay alive for a day, I ask this question to plan a calorie deprivation
    – Dev1ce
    Apr 8, 2020 at 20:51
  • So you've already discovered the answer? That number seems about right, for a bigger man. If you then consider your daily life, you can add another 500-700 kcal on top even if you don't exercise. About 500 kcal is a healthy deficit, so you should eat something between 1700 and 2200 kcal a day if you don't exercise specifically but not stay in bed all day, already have a healthy weight and are neither exceptionally small or big. If you have a desk job, it's more towards the lower end. There are plenty of calculators our there for a more precise number. So what's your question?
    – Raditz_35
    Apr 8, 2020 at 22:18
  • @Raditz_35 I've updated the question
    – Dev1ce
    Apr 12, 2020 at 20:06
  • I'm sorry, but I still don't see what you need help with here. You already said that you know the number pretty well. Why do you want the calories just to stay alive? Will you be hospitalized for a couple of months? I like your start, you tell us who you are, you tell us what you start with. Then you drift into some confusing stuff about maintenance calories. Scratch that, you are not asking a question for academic purposes, you want to reach a certain weight. I'd delete the bottom half of your question and just state your goal and why you're not happy with what you found during your research
    – Raditz_35
    Apr 13, 2020 at 14:23

1 Answer 1

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3

Calculate your Basal metabolic rate (BMR).

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate of energy expenditure per unit time by endothermic animals at rest.

What a BMR calculator does not include:

  • amount of physical activity
  • thermic effect of food
  • amount of lean muscle tissue
  • genetic predisposition – your metabolic rate may be partly decided by your genes
  • environmental temperature – if the temperature is very low or very high, the body has to work harder to maintain its normal body temperature, which increases the BMR
  • infection or illness – BMR increases because the body has to work harder to build new tissues and to create an immune response
  • dietary deficiencies – for example, a diet low in iodine reduces thyroid function and slows the metabolism.
  • hormonal and nervous controls – BMR is controlled by the nervous and hormonal systems. Hormonal imbalances can influence how quickly or slowly the body burns kilojoules

You should consider these things

Then add how many calories you burn doing basic activities. There are many ways to do this. For example, multiply BMR with

  • 1.2 points for a person who does little to no exercise
  • 1.37 points for a slightly active person who does light exercise 1–3 days a week
  • 1.55 points for a moderately active person who performs moderate exercise 3–5 days a week
  • 1.725 points for a very active person who exercises hard 6–7 days a week
  • 1.9 points for an extra active person who either has a physically demanding job or has a particularly challenging exercise routine

Or try more calculators and make an average. For example this calculator.

If you want to be very accurate, according to the number of hours of each activity try this calculator.

Also, consider a thermic effect of food.

Thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of energy expenditure above the basal metabolic rate due to the cost of processing food for use and storage.

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  • Your question gives a lot of numbers and complicated words. I don't think that's necessary for such a basic question - at least the way it has been ask. People asking the basics are better helped by basic explanations. Accounting for iodine deficiency is not needed (I have that and I have calculated that, it doesn't matter). Ask yourself less what the correct answer is and more what a helpful answer is. Without context, what you wrote can be wildly misunderstood. This is a real thing, people poison themselves with medication because some things marginally increase caloric consumption
    – Raditz_35
    Apr 8, 2020 at 20:48

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