I've been trying to count calories. I estimate around 1500 a day. I don't think I do more then that. I am male so 2500 is what is recommended. However I would say I am not that active. Jogging,walking for about an hour 3-4 times a week and weights 3-4 times a week.
So jogging/walking only burns around 250Cals? and doing weights probably around the same?
So on an average day I think I burn 250 through exercise. I've read that throughout the day the body burns calories when you are walking, talking and even sitting on the computer doing nothing. It has to burn something to make you respond, think, staying alive etc.
So my question is, how much does the body burn being just idle, ie setting watching TV, on the computer, or general moving around the house? I wouldn't thought it wouldn't be any more then 250 cals?
My estimation is on an average day I am burning probably around 500cals? God that doesn't seem like anything?
Also a bonus question. How many calories does the body burn while asleep if any?
Um...no. Do a google search on BMR (Basel Metabolic Rate) and you'll find the formula to figure out what yours is. It will use your age, height, gender and weight to calculate. My guess is that yours will be over 1500 cals. You can then also do a search on your AMR (Active Metabolic Rate) to determine what you need to maintain your weight given your particular amount of activity and then you can cut that by 10-20% to lose weight.
Secondly, you are active. You burn about 100 cals per mile running/jogging regardless of speed. This is a very generic estimation and there are many other factors that can change that number. So unless you are going really slow you're probably doing around 3-5 miles in an hours so you're burning 300-500 cals right there. Walking burns a little less. And lifting burns less than that unless it's very vigerous. But the afterburn of lifting is more, it gets pretty complicated.
To make life easier on yourself, just check out freedieting.com, I really like their calorie recommendations even though they are high. I really feel it's better to burn the fat then to starve it, especially for men. There are lots of other great tools on this site as well. I don't know what you're weight is, but I can tell you that for a man and you're activity level I would think that 1500 is too low for you.
For reference, I'm female I run 4xs a week and lift 2xs a week and I eat 1750 cals on average (I zig zag my cals). That said we are all VERY different and you really just need to experiment to see what works for you. Hope this helps.
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )
66+(6.23x256)+(12.7x70)-(6.8x27)=2300.28
2300.28x1.35=3105.51 (-20%)=2484
So yeah, you're pretty close. If you don't feel comfortable that high, use a lower activity factor or no activity factor. I prefer the activity factor because I personally find I lose faster when I eat more, but that is me. Many people think less is better when it comes to calories, I do not. However, if you're one of those who need to eat less to lose there are many ways to get more bang for your buck with your food choices. I feel it's best to start a little higher with the cals and if you're not losing at the pace you'd like then you cam easily cut back. I went the opposite way and started too low and had to add to lose especially when I increased my exercise. This was difficult mentally but boy did my body thank me when I gave in and ate the proper cals and foods.
Take advantage, you're a guy you can eat more! We welcome all here, but it is mostly women and we lose differently than men. I don't know if there is a forum as good as 3FC for men, but you may want to check it out. JPfitness seems to be quite good and I think there might be a good fat loss forum there.
Yes, if you exercise more you MAY need to eat more. Many times people start too low and they slow down their metabolism (some people don't believe this happens, however I do and there is a lot of evidence to support it). This is why I recommend starting higher seeing how you're body reacts after 2-4 weeks and take it from there. There are others who just need less, we're all experiments of one you know. If you are truly satisfied on 1500-1700 and you are losing at a healthy rate 1-2 lbs/wk then rock on. But be aware that many times the longer you stay at a lower calorie level the slower your metabolism will become and the lower your maintenance calories will be. So just be prepared. Also keep in mind by no means am I an expert and there are many therories on this so do your own research. If you read the weight loss info after the daily calculator calculation on freedieting.com it explains all of this a little better.
How many calories do you lose from being idle?
