Burn Those Calories

Your body is working all the time: pumping blood, processing food, even thinking. The body’s unit of measurement for the amount of work it’s doing is the calorie. When you sit and think, you burn about a calorie per minute. When you take a walk, your body might burn from 3 to 6 calories a minute. For every liter of oxygen (per kilogram of body weight) you process during aerobic exercise, the body burns 5 calories. The more energy you use, the more oxygen you process, and the more calories you burn. Ideally, you should burn 300 calories or more per exercise session.

Your body’s calorie usage during any given activity is determined by your weight, your fitness level, and the amount of work you’re doing. Because of the difference in the muscle/fat ratio of their bodies, as well as their fitness levels, a slight, older woman burns fewer calories taking a walk than a young, muscular man.