Daily Calorie Intake?

Question

OK...so i eat about 1,200 calories a day, but only burn about 600 calories in the gym...do you think i should lower my daily calorie intake or just burn more calories?, because i heard that you have to burn more calories than you take in a day..so what do you think?

i'm a 17 year old male, about 5'6, 205 pds.

Answer 1

You probably burn the other calories just
doing other things throughout the day.
Like making your bed, taking out the trash etc..
you burn calories that way.
I don't think you should lower your calorie intake...
just keep moving.

Answer 2

You burn 600 at the gym, but you burn calories ALL day long. Sitting at your computer breathing is burning up calories, sleeping burns calories...everything you do to survive is burning calories. But yes, you have to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight.

All in all, I think you are doing fine, especially if you are moving around throughout the day (outside of the gym). If you dont think you are burning more than 600 extra calories, you may want to do light exercise outside of the gym (take a walk around the neighborhood, do house/yard work), or reduce some foods. Try to find filling foods that are less in calories (also, try drinking more water if you arent already, water will supress hunger and it doesnt have any calories).

Answer 3

Just think about this.... your brain burns 5-600 calories per day by itself. That is it burns 120-150 grams of carbs alone. It sounds like if you want to loose weight you should keep up on what your doing, and possibly increase your calorie intake by a few hundred, one extra small but balanced meal, and make sure your eating small meals throughout the day, then your will be better off.

By doing this your body will not think it is being starved and will become more efficient at burning fat during resting periods.

Answer 4

You should be eating more, not less! If you're trying to lose weight, then yes, you should be burning more calories than you take in, but you don't only burn calories at the gym. You burn calories throughout the day, through walking, breathing, blinking, eating -everything that you do.

Answer 5

yes, if you want to stay extra fit than you need to burn more than what you consume.but its ok if you are satisfied by burning 600 calorie, no need to burn more as a normal man needs about 2200 calorie in balance diet to sustain themselves through the day i.e. 24 hours.

Answer 6

you sound like your doing very good with burning your calories, but for your weight and height you should be consuming at least 2,000 calories a day, to keep up your energy level. remember calories are energy! but burning 600 cals a day is very good for you too. so keep working on it

Answer 7

well you are leaving out the calories you body burns daily from walking sleeping moving around repairing itself ect...what you should do is go to a rec center or gym and normally they have tests to see how many calories your body burns daily to maintain itself and they base your workout and diet around that. to me 1200 calories isnt much, key thing is not to strave yourself too because that will actually slow down your metabolism

Answer 8

You need to learn how to correctly estimate your calorie intake. You are eating much more than 1200 per day. That is a really strict diet and you are to heavy to be following it.

Answer 9

hard to say without knowing your age, gender, weight or height.
Try http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm for an idea of how many calories you need.