How many calories does the average person burn from doing regular daily activities. In other words, how many calories do we expend from doing the typical things that we usually do in a day? (I think I read somewhere that it's around 300 but I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate)


I'm not referring to basal metabolic rate.

Couldn't that vary a lot? Someone who sits at a desk all day vs a postal worker who walks from house to house delivering mail vs a dog walker vs a telemarketer?

Is this for a paper you're writing? What difference does it make how many calories the "average" person burns above and beyond their BMR. What really matters is how many you're burning. You can wear a bodybugg or similar device and get an idea of how many you're burning. It's not as accurate as they claim but it does show how movement affects calories.

One thing that was surprising is that very small movements add up over time. I saw a difference of 300-400 calories per day based on me just sitting at my desk vs me making a concious effort to get up and move around every 15-20 minutes. Granted - I'm a big guy so it takes more energy to move me around than most but those small movements add up!

Define Average.
Define Typical.