How many calories you burn each day is determined by a number of factors, including your resting metabolic rate, or “metabolism,” (how many calories you burn just living and breathing), your daily activity level (sit at a desk vs. carry packages all day), and how much you exercise. In your case, if you were to ride your bike every day for 45 minutes at a moderate pace, meaning you’re breathing slightly hard, you would burn about 350 calories a day. (You can use the Prevention.com calorie burner as a guide.) At that rate, you would lose a little more than a half pound a week. Now the trickier part of the equation: What should your daily intake be to maintain your goal weight? Dietitians use the following formula to estimate daily calorie requirements: Body weight x 10 = Resting metabolic rate (RMR) Plus Daily activity level
Sedentary: add 20-40 percent RMRModerately active: add 40-60 percent RMRVery active: add 60-80 percent RMR Plus Exercise (i.e., stationary bike, 45 minutes) 350 calories (Source: Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Human Kinetics, 1997)
Plus Exercise (i.e., stationary bike, 45 minutes) 350 calories (Source: Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Human Kinetics, 1997)
