How Many Calories Do I Burn a Day?
The NHS says that on average, women use around 2,000 calories a day and men around 2,500. That’s an average across all sizes and activity levels, so a smaller or less active person uses less, and a bigger or more active person uses more. Your own number depends on your age, height, weight and how active you are. For most adults, most of it is burned at rest, just keeping your body going.
In brief
- Your body uses calories all day, for breathing, keeping your heart beating, moving and digesting food.
- Exercising 3 to 5 days a week adds roughly 450 to 650 calories a day.
- You burn a little less as you get older, and more if you're taller, heavier or more active.
- A calculator gives an estimate. Your weight trend over a few weeks shows your real number.
How many calories do you burn a day by age and activity?
A 45-year-old woman with a desk job burns about 1,600 calories a day. A 25-year-old man who exercises 3 to 5 days a week burns about 2,850. That daily total is also the amount that keeps your weight steady, often called your maintenance or TDEE (the total you burn in a day).
Women, 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and 70 kg (11 st, 154 lb):
| Age | At rest | Desk job, little exercise | Exercise 1 to 3 days a week | Exercise 3 to 5 days a week | Hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 1,450 | 1,750 | 2,000 | 2,250 | 2,500 |
| 45 | 1,350 | 1,600 | 1,850 | 2,100 | 2,300 |
| 65 | 1,250 | 1,500 | 1,700 | 1,950 | 2,150 |
Men, 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) and 85 kg (13 st 5 lb, 187 lb):
| Age | At rest | Desk job, little exercise | Exercise 1 to 3 days a week | Exercise 3 to 5 days a week | Hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 1,850 | 2,200 | 2,550 | 2,850 | 3,200 |
| 45 | 1,750 | 2,100 | 2,400 | 2,700 | 3,000 |
| 65 | 1,650 | 1,950 | 2,250 | 2,550 | 2,850 |
We worked these out with a standard formula (Mifflin-St Jeor) and the activity estimates our calculators use, rounded to the nearest 50. For more ages, see how many calories a woman should eat and how many calories a man should eat.
Does your weight change how many calories you burn?
Yes. A heavier body burns more, both at rest and when it moves. Here’s how it changes for a 35-year-old who exercises 1 to 3 days a week.
| Weight | Woman, 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | Man, 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 60 kg (9 st 6 lb, 132 lb) | 1,800 | 2,100 |
| 80 kg (12 st 8 lb, 176 lb) | 2,050 | 2,400 |
| 100 kg (15 st 10 lb, 220 lb) | 2,350 | 2,650 |
This is also why you burn a little less as you lose weight, and why a calorie target that worked at the start can stop working later. We explain that in why your calorie target shouldn’t stay the same.
How many calories do you burn doing nothing?
Doing nothing at all, the people in our tables burn between about 1,250 and 1,850 calories a day. This is your resting rate, often called BMR, and it’s what your body uses just to keep you alive. On a lazy day on the sofa you’ll burn a bit more than this, closer to the “Desk job” column (about 1,500 to 2,200). In the tables above, it’s the “At rest” column. For a 45-year-old woman of 165 cm and 70 kg, it’s about 1,350 a day. For a 45-year-old man of 178 cm and 85 kg, it’s about 1,750.
That’s most of the day’s total for someone with a desk job. For that woman, about 1,350 of her roughly 1,600 calories go on staying alive. You keep burning while you sleep too. Eight hours is about a third of the day, so roughly 400 to 600 calories for the people in our tables.
How much does exercise add?
In our tables, going from a desk job to exercising 3 to 5 days a week adds roughly 450 to 650 calories a day. The activity numbers are estimates, so treat this as a rough guide.
Everyday movement matters as well. Walking, standing, fidgeting and housework all count. They can change by hundreds of calories a day, as we explain in what is NEAT. It’s one reason two people of the same size can burn different amounts, as we cover in why do two people lose weight at different rates. Most people overestimate what a workout burns, which we explain in whether to eat back your exercise calories.
How do you work out how many calories you burn?
- Put your age, height, weight and activity into our maintenance calorie calculator. It shows your resting rate and your daily total.
- Eat close to that number for three or four weeks.
- Weigh at the same time of day a few times a week, and compare weekly averages.
- If your average holds steady, that’s roughly what you burn. If it keeps falling, you burn more than you eat. If it keeps rising, you burn less.
Any formula can be off for a particular person, by more than 10% for some people, as our calculator page explains. Your weight trend tells you more. Our guide to finding your maintenance calories goes through this step by step.
If you want to lose weight, you’ll need to eat a little less than you burn. We explain how in what is a calorie deficit and how many calories you should eat to lose weight.
Where Ori fits
Ori works out a starting calorie target from your age, height, weight and activity. With Premium, Ori checks your weight trend each week and adjusts your target if your weight isn’t moving as expected, so it keeps up with what your body burns. Our Stealth Health mode, which is free, hides calorie and weight numbers and tells you how things are going in plain words. You can try Ori here.
Related reading
- How to count calories: a beginner’s guide
- Why has my weight loss stopped?
- Simple calorie counter apps for beginners
Sources
- NHS. Overweight and obesity in adults. Page last reviewed 29 April 2026, checked 3 November 2026.
- NHS Better Health. Calories and weight loss, checked 2 November 2026.
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990.
A gentle safety note
Ori supports general wellness. It is not medical care. If you have a history of disordered eating, are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medicines that affect weight or appetite, or have a clinical nutrition need, speak with a qualified healthcare professional before changing your intake or weight goal.
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