Burning 1,000 calories a day might sound like a lofty goal, but it’s not as far-fetched as it seems. Whether you’re an athlete looking to boost performance or someone looking to shed extra pounds, understanding how calorie burning works is essential for reaching your health and fitness goals. That’s why we spoke with certified personal trainers and fitness experts who explain how you can burn 1,000 calories a day through regular exercise and increased daily activity, making it an achievable goal regardless of your fitness level.

Increasing your daily calorie expenditure can accelerate weight loss, improve cardiovascular health, and boost overall fitness. Additionally, torching more calories can ramp up your metabolism, helping you maintain a healthy weight. However, it’s crucial to approach your calorie-burning goals with a balanced perspective and a well-structured plan. Pushing yourself too hard, not recovering between workouts, and poor nutrition habits can thwart your calorie-burning efforts, potentially leading to injuries and burnout. That’s why health and fitness experts stress the importance of incorporating rest days into your routine and eating a balanced diet rich in essential nutrients.

Now, let’s explore how you can burn 1,000 calories a day, along with practical tips and expert advice on maintaining this goal in the long term.

What are calories, and how is calorie burn measured?

“Calories are units of energy used to measure the energy content of foods,” explains TJ Mentus, CPT, a certified personal trainer at Garage Gym Reviews. “The calories in food give your body the energy it needs to function and perform all the activities needed to stay alive, such as breathing, moving, and circulating blood. The excess is stored as fat when the body consumes more calories than it needs for energy. When caloric consumption is less than the body needs, it burns fat to make up the deficit that does not come from nutrition. A heart rate tracker is the best way to measure caloric burn since calorie burn is correlated with heart rate. This is because the heart rate increases, so does the need for oxygen, which requires more energy.”

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Calorie burn is influenced by several factors, such as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body needs to maintain basic physiological functions at rest. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) includes BMR multiplied by a certain physical activity multiplier based on how much exercise you get a week. Factors like age, weight, gender, and activity level also significantly impact how many calories you burn daily.

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Is burning 1,000 calories a day possible?

Burning 1,000 calories daily is possible, but the odds of success vary widely depending on your fitness level and body type. Physically active people and those with larger bodies or more muscle mass may find burning 1,000 calories easier than those who are sedentary, smaller in size, or lacking muscle.

“A typical strength workout will burn 300 to 400 calories in one hour on average,” says Mentus. “One hour of running will burn between 600 to 700 calories. Looking at those two typical forms of exercise, you will need to exercise at least two hours a day, which may not be realistic for most people. Unless you’re already in good shape, I would not suggest going right into two hours of working out as you will place yourself at a higher risk of burnout and possible injury.”6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

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How long do you have you have to exercise to burn 1,000 calories?

Again, the time required to burn 1,000 calories varies widely based on body type, age, fitness level, and the form of exercise.

“Higher intensity activities generally burn more calories,” says Kyrie Furr, CPT, a certified personal trainer and performance coach with Barbend. “For example, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts can vary widely in intensity, but they typically involve alternating between bursts of high-intensity exercise and periods of rest or lower intensity.”

Furr points out that for many individuals, torching 1,000 calories may require a combination of exercises and physical activity scattered throughout the day rather than one long, intense workout.

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Safety and risks of burning 1,000 calories a day:

Burning 1,000 calories a day is an ambitious goal with potential risks. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to overtraining and inadequate recovery time, potentially resulting in injuries, fatigue, and burnout. That’s why balancing intense workouts with proper nutrition, hydration, and rest is essential to continue exercising consistently and burning calories sustainably.

Before starting any new workout routine, speak with a fitness professional or your health care provider to help avoid injury and burnout while staying on track toward your health and fitness goals.

Trying to meet physical activity goals can be confusing: should you aim for a certain amount of time exercising or a certain number of steps? A Harvard study suggests that both measurement methods are equally effective at tracking whether you’re getting enough activity to reduce disease risk and boost longevity. Researchers analyzed the health information of more than 14,000 healthy women (ages 62 or older) who wore activity trackers for a week and were then followed for nine years. Regardless of the type of exercise they engaged in, women who were the most active had the biggest reductions in risk for cardiovascular disease and early death (30% or more), compared to women who were the least active. And both the minute measurements and step measurements had the same associations with those health benefits. The research was published online May 20, 2024, by JAMA Internal Medicine. Since many people use activity trackers now, the authors say it’s time to add step counts to the federal physical activity recommendations, which currently call for 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity activity. The equivalent in steps would be about 7,000 per day.

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“A lot of people are just not spending like they used to,” said Dengle, co-founder of exeQute, a class-based fitness centre located in downtown Shanghai. “Before our most popular membership was a three-month membership. This month, we sold only one three-month membership, with the most popular being flexible credits on smaller packages.”

Still, China’s fitness market is expected to continue growing as consumers are paying increasing attention to health and fitness. New fitness models are emerging all the time, including group class boutique studios and private teaching studios. The fitness industry is expected to cross 100 billion yuan in 2026 (US$13.8 billion), compared with 70.6 billion in 2021, according to Statista.

Apps like ClassPass also offer competitive sales for price-conscious consumers, making the price per class even cheaper for users than going directly to the retailer.

“I thought customers were price-sensitive, but now I have realised that they are just not spending,” said Dengle, who believes the wave of shutdowns of prominent fitness franchises in China during the Covid-19 pandemic has weakened trust between consumers and fitness centres.

Tera Wellness, once a dominant player, shut down its operations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in May 2023 after declaring bankruptcy. At the time, several aggrieved trainers took to social media, claiming the company had failed to pay wages and rent, while customers were left fuming as their membership fees were not refunded.

Other franchises like SpaceCycle and Physical also shut down several branches across China in the past year, causing an uproar among consumers who had to forfeit their deposits.

Raphael Coelho, the managing partner at X-Sigma Partners, an accelerator focused on scaling up retail brands in fitness, pet care, and food and drink, said consumers in China are looking for community-oriented gyms.

“We saw this trend globally, of people wanting to go to boutique fitness studios,” said Coelho, and while China is going through a slower economic transition, only niche concepts with strong business strategy can survive.

“There may be a lot of reasons why a concept fails,” he said. “You can’t just blame it on the economy. “It may be the business model, or the structure may have always had a problem to begin with.”

A slow market means only the best businesses will thrive and grow, he added.

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Chinese dog owners race alongside their dogs in new fitness trend

Chinese dog owners race alongside their dogs in new fitness trend

One of the rare successes in China’s wellness industry is MYBarre, which opened its first gym in Shanghai in 2016.

MYBarre gym is popular with women, as it incorporates ballet, full body workout, sculpting, toning, strengthening and flexibility.

Siri Nordhejm, co-founder of MYBarre, says they were lucky to make it through the pandemic, mainly because most of her customers were Shanghai residents and not foreigners, who left the city in droves during the pandemic.

Consumers are more price-conscious and looking for the best value for money, Nordhejm said. The shift in attitude forced Nordhejm and her business partners to rethink the way they offered memberships to customers.

“We don’t lock people in the system which, I think, is definitely the way to make consumers feel happy,” said Nordhejm. They can try it for the experience and do not have to opt for any long-term contracts, she added.

“If you really have a great product, a great experience, I don’t think people mind actually spending the money,” she said.