Another Diet Forum > General Discussions > General Discussions > Loosing calories while sleeping & office work
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navdeepbajwa
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 I have read that while sleeping we loose like 55 calories per hour & in office doing a sitting job we loose 85 claories per hour so if we do around 18 hrs of these two combine we should loose around 1120 calories automatically then why we gain weight. Do we eat more than 2000+1120 calories a day. I am confused or those 1120 are not really lost. Then if we eat 2000 calories do 1120 gets deducted from them. Please help
Jacob83
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 Don't worry about that.  You'll want to calculate the calories you need to maintain weight, then if you eat more than that you'll gain weight, less and you'll lose weight.

 

For example I'm 147 lbs but I'm very active because I exercise 6 days a week.  With my exercise, height, and weight as well as age I need to eat about 3000 calories to maintain my weight.  Doing these exercises if I wanted to gain weight I'd have to eat about 3300-3500 daily, perhaps even more. 

I hope that makes sense ;-)

If you'd like me to help calculate your calories I'll need your height / weight / age and how active you are (Desk job, exercise routines etc). 

 
Nir
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 navdeepbajwa wrote:
I have read that while sleeping we loose like 55 calories per hour & in office doing a sitting job we loose 85 claories per hour so if we do around 18 hrs of these two combine we should loose around 1120 calories automatically then why we gain weight. Do we eat more than 2000+1120 calories a day. I am confused or those 1120 are not really lost. Then if we eat 2000 calories do 1120 gets deducted from them. Please help

We have an RMR calculator on the site - it calculates your energy needs.

For example (Female, 5'0", 25 years old and 120lb) who was Sedentary will require 1236 calories to maintain her weight. (By the way 2000 is a myth - it does not apply to most women unless they are exercising a lot.)

There are 24 hours in the day and indeed 1236/24 = 52 calories, so indeed that is what she is burning (on average) per hour, doing her sedentary things (like sleeping, working in an office, driving, eating breakfast, having a shower etc.)

The key thing is not to count your energy needs twice. Either you do a general RMR calculaion for your energy needs (which is sufficient for most peope's needs) or you do an hour-by-hour anaylsis. You do not add the two together.

Now the girl in this example, if she keeps eating 1236 calories she'll stay the same. Her BMI is over 23 - maybe she wants to be slimmer - in this case she'll need to eat fewer calories and/or do some exercise in order to create a calorie deficit.