To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. As simple as this sounds, you know it can be more complicated than that if you have tried to lose weight. If your goal is to shed some pounds, you’ll first have to figure out how many calories you need to eat and how many calories you burn during a workout.
The number of calories someone needs to burn to lose weight healthily will vary by person. Working with a dietitian or nutritionist can help you establish a practical plan for your body’s specific needs. However, if that’s unavailable, you can learn on your own how to estimate how many calories you need to eat and burn daily to meet your weight loss goals.
To explain the process in greater detail, I consulted Jamie Maitland, renowned fitness instructor, certified holistic nutritionist and founder of The Office Health.
How do calories work?
A calorie is a unit of energy used to express how much energy you exert or consume daily. We need calories; they give the body fuel and the ability to function. The calories you intake that are not used are stored as body fat.
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According to the USDA, adult females need to consume between 1,600 and 2,200 calories each day. The average male requires between 2,200 and 3,000 calories. These are just guidelines, and while most people may fall within these ranges, you might not. Body composition and total daily energy expenditure are the two factors that determine your basal metabolic rate.
Read more: The Expert-Approved Way to Count Calories
You burn calories just by living. That’s right, just reading this burns calories. So, whenever you clean your house or garden or do things that don’t feel like a workout, you’re burning calories. Unless you intentionally increase this activity level over some time, your current daily energy expenditure won’t necessarily cause you to lose weight.
How many calories should you burn to lose weight?
Everyone is different, so you’ll have different calorie goals than someone else. Maitland explained that several factors influence how many calories you need to burn to lose weight. They include your weight, age, gender, hormones and health conditions. Your lifestyle and attitude will also come into play.
“In order to really determine how many calories you need to burn to lose weight, you should realistically ask yourself what your goal weight is, and if you are willing to change the way you think in order to achieve those results,” Maitland said.
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Calorie needs vary by person, the science behind weight loss is clear: you must be in a calorie deficit. You do this by either reducing the extra calories you’re consuming or burning more than what you’re eating with exercise.
You’ve probably heard of the 3,500-calorie deficit rule, which states that a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. While this provides a basic framework, Maitland pointed out that it won’t apply to everyone. If you’re unsure where to start, Maitland suggests that you start simply and shave off 500 calories from your normal daily intake and monitor how you feel.
You should always consult your doctor first before making any changes to your diet. Whether you research yourself, meet with a health professional or find an accountability group, your weight loss goals are achievable.
How to calculate the number of calories you burn
If you’re looking for a way to figure out how many calories you burn in a day, a reliable way to do this is by first finding out your resting metabolic rate. Your RMR is the basic number of calories your body needs to function and maintain your weight. This doesn’t account for extra activities that you do during the day. There are a few methods to calculate your RMR, but the most reliable is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. It calculates the number of calories you need to eat daily based on your assigned gender at birth, height, age and weight. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation looks like this:
Males: (10 × weight in kilograms) + (6.25 × height in centimeters) – (5 × age in years) + 5
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Females: (10 × weight in kilograms) + (6.25 × height in centimeters) – (5 × age in years) – 161
If you’re looking to see how many calories you’ll need based on activity level, then you’ll need to multiply your RMR results with your activity level based on the following chart:
1.2 – Sedentary (little to no exercise)
1.375 – Lightly active (workout 1-3 days a week)
1.55 – Moderately active (workout 3-5 days a week)
1.725 – Very active (workout 6-7 days a week)
1.9 – Extra active (two-a-day workouts, active job)
Example: 5-ft 4-in, 125 pounds, moderately active woman, 29 years old
RMR x Activity Level: 1,276.99 x 1.55 = 1,979.3345 calories
What is a caloric deficit?
A caloric deficit is when you burn more calories than you eat in a day. As Maitland mentioned, it’s usually recommended to start a deficit by cutting back 500 calories a day from your diet. It’s important to remember that this may vary per individual so it’s best to consult with a professional before doing so.
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Quick tips to cut 500 calories:
Opt for healthy snacks like fruit or nuts
Try to eliminate high-calorie treat each day
Identify low-calorie swaps like using low-fat milk or plain yogurt instead of sour cream
Cut out high-calorie drinks like sodas
Use smaller bowls or plates
Avoid fried foods as often as you can
Remember, calories don’t tell you the quality of food you’re eating. Focus on nutrient-rich foods that ensure your body and mind get what they need to function and flourish.
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What are healthy weight loss goals?
Losing weight in a healthy and sustainable way is essential for meeting your goals. According to Maitland, a healthy weight loss goal is between 2 and 5 pounds a week. That doesn’t mean that if you’re not losing within that range, you’re doing it wrong. It’s simply a guideline for what is healthy and sustainable. You should expect it to vary each week.
“It’s important to understand the difference between water weight loss and actual fat loss. Regardless of how much weight you would like to lose, it’s imperative to set realistic goals and trust that even the smallest steps taken daily can make a difference. Consistency is the secret sauce,” Maitland said.
Weight loss is a long-term lifestyle change. Maitland highlighted that your weight loss will plateau if you don’t increase the deficit. So, your diet and exercise routines should be evaluated frequently to ensure they suit your goals. That said, if you achieve your goals and find a workout routine that works for you, it’s OK to stick with it.
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How to track calorie burn when you exercise
It’s essential to track your progress when exercising, not only so you can see how far you’ve come but also to identify when you need a break.
How many calories you burn will vary by the duration and intensity of your workout, so it’s good practice to use a fitness tracker to simplify things. The top fitness trackers like Fitbit, Apple Watch and Whoop include your calorie burn throughout the day and during your tracked workouts.
Factors that contribute to how many calories you burn:
Your heart rate zone: Smartwatches measure your heart rate zones, or how hard you’re pushing and recovery periods. Heart rate zones will change, so having a record will help you determine when you need to take your workout to the next level.
Your natural resting heart rate: We all have a unique resting heart rate. The normal range falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Use your heart rate to inform how often you need to take breaks. For example, you may need to take more breaks if you have a naturally high heart rate.
Your weight: How much you weigh will impact how many calories you burn while exercising. Someone who weighs less will burn less. It’s important to note that muscle mass burns more calories than body fat, so your weight will burn more calories if you regularly strength train.
The type of workout: Strength training may not burn as many calories as cardio, though it’s important to include both sources to build muscle mass and avoid injury.
Read more: Best Fitness Tracker
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Too long; didn’t read?
Understanding how calories and weight loss are related is the basis for any wellness journey. Whether you research yourself, meet with a health professional or find an accountability group, your weight loss goals are achievable.
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The best part is that you don’t have to completely change your life to lose weight. You can find an exercise routine that works for you. Walking for 20 to 30 minutes daily can go a long way, and at-home exercises can do wonders for losing body fat. Counting calories doesn’t make sense for everyone, especially if you have a history of disordered eating.
“Your life doesn’t need to make sense to anyone but you. Find what motivates you, stick with it and the results will come,” Maitland advised.
Keep your fitness research going by learning when the best time to weigh yourself is, what foods to moderate and which exercises you should focus on to age gracefully.
Compound moves work multiple muscle groups at the same time, making them an efficient way to build full-body strength.
Liz Hilliard is a 71-year-old fitness instructor and founder of the Hilliard Studio Method. She believes she’s stronger now than she was at 40.
Given her extensive experience in training the over-50s, I asked Liz to share her top compound moves for building full-body strength.
She suggested the five exercises below. All you need to do them is a long resistance band and a little space.
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The workout
There are five moves in this routine:
Squat and biceps curl
Lunge and deltoid raise
Triceps squat
Reach to plank
Glute bridge
Scroll down to see recommended sets and repetitions.
1. Squat and biceps curl
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 10-15
Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, positioned on the middle of a resistance band, holding the ends of the band in your hands at your sides.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat, while also bending your elbows and pulling the band up to your shoulders to perform a biceps curl.
Stand back up and return your arms to your sides.
2. Lunge and deltoid raise
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 5-10 per leg
Stand and place the resistance band under your left foot, holding the ends in your hands.
Step back with your right foot and lower your right knee as you raise your arms out to the side, with palms facing the floor. Aim to bring your hands in line with your shoulders so they form a T shape.
Push through your front foot to stand back up while lowering your arms.
Repeat 5-10 times, then switch sides.
3. Triceps squat
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 8-10
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, positioned on the middle of a resistance band, holding the ends of the band in your hands at your sides.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat, lowering your chest toward the floor and pinning your elbows to your sides.
In the squat position, straighten your arms behind you, keeping your palms facing in toward your body.
Bend your elbows again and stand, then repeat.
4. Reach to plank
Sets: 2 Reps: 10
Stand and reach your hands overhead.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat.
Place your hands on the floor in line with your shoulders.
Step one leg back at a time into a plank position, so your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your heels.
Step your feet back into the low squat position, then stand and reach overhead again.
5. Glute bridge
Sets: 3 Reps: 10
Lie down with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Tuck your tailbone and engage your core.
Press your feet into the floor and slowly raise your hips, keeping the middle of your back on the mat.
Lower back down onto the mat, one vertebrae at a time.
DeTar Health & Fitness Center Announces New Member Special to Kick Off a Healthy 2026
Published 11:45 am Monday, December 22, 2025
By Emily Weatherly, Marketing Director, DeTar Healthcare System
As the New Year approaches, DeTar Health & Fitness Center is inviting the community to start 2026 on a healthy note with a limited-time New Member Special designed to make fitness more accessible than ever. Now through January 31, 2026, new members can join DeTar Health & Fitness Center for $75 for three months with no joining fee. DeTar Health & Fitness Center is located at 4204 N. Laurent St. in Victoria.
“We pride ourselves on creating a welcoming environment where members of all fitness levels feel comfortable and supported,” said Stephanie Schuckenbrock, Director of DeTar Health & Fitness Center. “From our diverse group exercise schedule—including popular Les Mills classes—to our wide range of cardio and weight training equipment, our knowledgeable staff is here to help every member reach their personal health goals.”
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DeTar Health & Fitness Center offers a full suite of amenities, including:
Indoor pool
Full schedule of group exercise classes
Locker rooms with showers
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Cardio and weight lifting equipment
Certified personal trainers and registered massage therapists
Since 1986, DeTar Healthcare System’s Health & Fitness Center has served the Victoria area as a trusted fitness and wellness facility, supervised by a professional team of fitness instructors, personal trainers and massage therapists. The center emphasizes the importance of exercise as a cornerstone of living a healthier life.
Programs and services offered include:
Adult fitness programs
Group fitness classes
One-on-one sessions with certified personal trainers
Sessions with registered massage therapists
Corporate wellness programs
The facility is well-equipped with a wide range of fitness equipment, including arc trainers, treadmills, stationary and recumbent bikes, rowing machines, spin bikes, Jacob’s Ladder, stair steppers, circuit weights, free weights and kettlebells.
Community members interested in taking advantage of the New Member Special are encouraged to sign up soon, as the offer ends January 31, 2026. For more information or to join, call 361-578-5884 or visit https://www.detar.com/fitness.
In March 2025, in a preprint uploaded to biorxiv.org, Mansuy and colleagues reported that EVs in mice can transport certain RNAs, metabolites and lipids linked to early-life stress from circulating blood to sperm, with consequences for offspring. The offspring produced by these sperm cells had stress-related metabolic dysfunction as adults and bore the stress signatures in their own sperm RNA. “These changes imply a mechanistic link between sperm RNA modifications and phenotypic features in the offspring,” Mansuy’s team concluded in their paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Phenotypic Translation
Perhaps the trickiest step to understand is how sperm-borne molecules could influence an adult’s observable traits. In one form of experiment, researchers extract all the sperm RNA from mice that have been raised under stressful or health-altering conditions. Those isolated RNAs are then injected into a zygote. Pups that emerge usually “get the dad’s phenotypes,” Conine said, suggesting that the RNAs alone confer traits from dad to offspring.
But how? During early development, epigenetic processes reign. As one fertilized cell divides into two, and those cells divide again, and so on, one set of DNA instructions is dynamically and repeatedly reprogrammed. The growing body specializes into different cell types and is sculpted into a sequence of increasingly complex forms. It’s possible, then, that early epigenetic alterations to the genome could have significant downstream effects on an adult.
Research out of Conine’s lab, published in 2024, showed that sperm microRNAs alter gene expression in mouse embryos. Experiments like these, he said, support the idea that offspring can inherit paternal traits via the transfer of non-DNA molecular stowaways in sperm.
The recent Cell Metabolism paper took this idea a step further by tracing a mechanism by which this can happen. A team of more than two dozen Chinese researchers focused on the epigenetic transmission of exercise benefits, homing in on a set of microRNAs that reprogram gene expression in the early embryo. These changes ultimately result in skeletal muscle adaptations in adult offspring that enhance exercise endurance. The researchers found that well-exercised mice had more of these microRNAs in their sperm than sedentary mice did. When these microRNAs were transferred into zygotes, the adults they grew into were more physically fit, with more mitochondria in skeletal muscle and higher endurance.
But how did the molecules generate the exercise-positive phenotype? In experiments, the researchers found that the microRNAs suppressed a particular protein, which had the effect of boosting genes related to mitochondrial activity and metabolism.
Intriguingly, the sperm of physically trained male humans also hosted higher levels of many of the same microRNAs than those of untrained cohorts. “This cross-species conservation suggests a potential role for these sperm mi[cro]RNAs in intergenerational exercise adaptations in humans,” the researchers wrote.
The First Draft
The notion that a father’s lived experience can become recorded by his body, transmitted to his gametes and relayed to his offspring is no longer as outlandish as it once seemed. Many researchers in the field are willing to float speculative visions of what could be going on, even as they acknowledge that gaps remain.
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“Our hypothesis is that the epididymis ‘sees’ the world and alters the small RNAs it produces in response,” Rando said. “These RNAs are then delivered to the zygote upon fertilization and control early gene regulation and development to shape offspring health and disease.”
Conine speculates that once certain RNAs make their way into the egg, they trigger “a cascade of changes in developmental gene expression that then leads to these phenotypes” of the father showing up in the next generation. Remarkably, this unfolds even though the sheer volume of the sperm’s contents is so much less than an egg’s contents, including the relative amounts of RNA.
The full picture of how paternal experience and behavior might epigenetically influence offspring is not nearly in hand. Researchers are currently piecing the story together, one experiment at a time, rather than proving out every step sequentially in the same set of organisms. One of the gaps is in the characterization of what RNA and perhaps other epigenetic factors do in the zygote to modify genomic activity as it unfolds during development, Mansuy said.
“We are still blind men describing for the first time different parts of the same elephant,” Chen said. “The underlying mechanism is almost certainly an orchestra of a sperm RNA code and factors beyond that.”
Confirming the findings in humans would take enormous effort, but it would be key to turning these findings in mice into “informed medical advice,” Chen said. This would require well-controlled experiments following multiple generations, tracking diet, exercise, aging and environmental exposures, while also using advanced tools to decode sperm-packaged molecules — and then looking for strong correlations between the molecular and phenotypic data.
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Even amid the uncertainties, researchers are cautiously moving forward as they learn to believe the results of their own experiments. If they’re right, they will have discovered a new fact of life, Rando said. When he thinks about his two boys, he wonders what he might have done differently when he was younger, before they were born, that might have tweaked his RNA profile in ways that would affect them today.
“We don’t know enough yet to develop guidance like that,” Rando said. “Maybe we will get there.”
