The number of calories you should burn in a workout depends primarily on your fitness goals, body weight, exercise intensity, and type of activity.
Key Points on Calories Burned in a Workout
- For weight loss: A common target is to create a daily calorie deficit of about 500 calories, which can be achieved by burning around 250 calories through exercise and reducing 250 calories from your diet. This deficit leads to roughly 1 pound of weight loss per week
- Calories burned vary by body weight and activity: For example, a 155-pound person can burn approximately 400-500 calories in a 30-60 minute moderate to vigorous workout, while heavier individuals burn more calories for the same activity and duration
- Typical calorie burn ranges by gender and weight (30-60 minutes):
- Women under 100 kg: 250-400 calories
- Women over 100 kg: 350-500 calories
- Men under 100 kg: 300-450 calories
- Men over 100 kg: 350-500 calories
- Exercise type matters: Cardio activities like running, cycling, HIIT, and swimming burn more calories per minute than low-impact or strength training alone. Strength training burns fewer calories during the workout but increases post-exercise calorie burn by building muscle
- Factors influencing calorie burn: Body size/composition, exercise intensity, duration, age, gender, fitness level, and genetics all affect how many calories you burn
- Estimating calories burned: Using MET values (metabolic equivalents) can help estimate calories burned based on weight and activity duration. For example, bicycling at a moderate pace (6 METs) for 30 minutes burns about 245 calories for a 70 kg person
Summary
There is no one-size-fits-all number of calories you should burn in a workout. If your goal is weight loss, aiming to burn 250-500 calories per workout session (30-60 minutes) combined with dietary control is effective. For other goals like strength or performance, calorie burn is a secondary consideration. The best approach is to tailor your workout intensity and duration to your personal goals, body weight, and fitness level
. This approach ensures a balanced, realistic target for calorie burn during workouts aligned with your objectives.
