When you look at the nutrition label on a food product, the percentages for the daily value of various nutrients are always given based on a 2000-calorie diet.
This is because eating 2000 calories a day is roughly the average recommended caloric intake for adults across both sexes.
For this reason, a lot of people are curious about how to burn 2000 calories a day or if burning 2000 calories a day is necessary to lose weight if they are, in fact, eating 2000 calories a day.
So, is burning 2000 calories a day necessary for weight loss? What are the best 2000 calorie workouts? How many calories do you burn sitting all day? How do you burn 2000 calories a day?
In this guide to how to burn 2000 calories a day, we will discuss the best tips and tricks for how to burn calories for efficient weight loss so that you can get closer to your goals.
We will look at:
- How Many Calories Do I Burn Sitting All Day?
- Will Burning 2000 Calories a Day Help Me Lose Weight?
- How To Burn 2000 Calories a Day
Let’s get started!
How Many Calories Do I Burn Sitting All Day?
A baseline question to consider is: “How many calories do you burn sitting all day?“
When you are sitting all day, you are at rest.
Some people mistakenly think that you don’t burn any calories, but all of the various processes that your body has to carry out in order to support your survival take energy, which burns calories.
Your resting metabolic rate, RMR, is the number of calories that you burn sitting all day, and it is closely tied with your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, which is the bare minimum number of calories you need lying down all day to sustain life.We all burn a different number of calories per day, depending on body size and composition, physical activity, and planned workouts, along with a small contribution from the particular diet that you eat.
You can use this online calculator for a ballpark idea of how many calories you burn per day.
Will Burning 2000 Calories a Day Help Me Lose Weight?
Common questions tend to be: “How many calories do I burn a day, and how many calories should I eat a day?”
Ultimately, you need to know this information to determine whether burning 2000 calories a day will result in weight loss, weight maintenance, or weight gain.
According to the 2020-2025 United States Dietary Guidelines, adult men should consume a minimum of 2,200–2,400 calories, while adult females should consume at least 1,600–1,800 calories per day.
These recommendations for how many calories to eat per day are based on the average body size and physical activity level for men and women, respectively, so they take into consideration resting metabolic rate as well as general physical activity and lifestyle behaviors.
Your own personal needs may vary significantly depending on how active you are throughout the day based on your job and lifestyle choices, how old you are, and how much exercise you get.
Again, using an online calculator to calculate your BMR as well as your total daily energy expenditure can be really helpful in determining how many calories a day you are already burning and whether burning 2,000 calories a day will result in weight loss, weight maintenance, or even weight gain.
When you are trying to lose weight by burning 2,000 calories a day, that “2000 daily calorie burn” figure needs to be more than what you are eating.
Because it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat, burning 2,000 calories a day if you eat 1500 calories a day will result in one pound of fat loss per week.
How To Burn 2000 Calories a Day
Here are some tips for how to burn 2,000 calories a day.
#1: Get a Standing Desk
You will burn more calories per day if you stand instead of sitting while working.
This is a great tip for how to burn 2000 calories a day if you have a sedentary job and have limited time to do workouts that burn 2000 calories (or longer workouts that contribute to burning 2000 calories a day).
Our pick for the best standing desk for weight loss as well as function, aesthetics, durability, and value is the FlexiSpot Standing Desk E7 Pro.
It is beautiful, adjusts to any height, holds a whopping 440 pounds, is backed by a 15-year warranty, and helps you be productive and burn more calories while working without having to make compromises on either front.
#2: Try a Treadmill Desk
One step up in how to burn 2000 calories a day for weight loss is to get a treadmill desk or a good treadmill that you can put under your desk so that you can walk while you work.
You don’t need to walk fast, but even just a slow, comfortable 2.5 miles an hour will help you accrue a surprising number of steps per day while you work.
Our favorite under-the-desk treadmill for walking is the FEIER Treadmill STAR 100. This high-quality treadmill folds completely flat and can allow you to run up to 11 mph and auto incline from 1-12 % grade.
#3: Get an Exercise Bike Chair
If a treadmill desk setup is not going to work for you or it is too noisy, there are also exercise bike chairs that are great for low-impact exercise while you work. You will burn many more calories in an exercise bike chair desk rather than a regular chair.
Plus, exercise bike desk chairs are much quieter and easier on your joints than treadmill desks.
Our pick for the best exercise bike desk chair is the FlexiSpot Deskcise Pro V9, also called the Home Office All-in-One Desk Bike/Bike Workstation V9.
It has a desk built right in, eight resistance levels, and is virtually silent, which means you can even exercise while on business calls.
#4: Walk More
It sounds obvious, but one way to increase the number of calories you burn per day is to walk more. Try to do your errands walking or see if you can walk or bike part of your commute to work.
Aim to accrue at least 7000 steps per day on top of whatever planned high-calorie-burning workouts you do.
#5: Lift Weights
Heavy resistance training helps build muscle, which will boost your resting metabolic rate.
This means that you will burn more calories per day even when you are sitting, as well as more calories during your workouts.
Plus, strength training will improve your functional strength for everyday activities and improve your exercise performance, decrease the risk of injury, improve your body composition, build confidence, and improve markers of health such as blood pressure.
#6: Swap Steady-State Cardio for HIIT
Instead of hopping on the elliptical for 30 minutes at a steady pace or running on a treadmill or outside at a moderate intensity, do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts.
HIIT workouts involve repeated bouts of very vigorous exercise followed by easy recovery periods, which are some of the best workouts to burn fat.
Research indicates that HIIT workouts burn as many calories as a moderate-intensity, steady-state workout in one-third to one-half the time.
Plus, if you are looking for the best workouts to burn 2000 calories a day, HIIT has been shown to be especially beneficial for burning fat and losing weight, and this type of workout can boost your metabolic rate for up to 14 hours or more after you are done.
#7: Drink More Water
Studies have found that drinking ice water can cause a temporary increase in metabolic rate.
Additionally, hydration alone can help speed your metabolism and burn more calories.
#8: Try Green Tea and Spicy Foods
Matcha tea and green tea have been shown to boost metabolic rate and promote fat burning.
Coupled with the caffeine, the catechins in green tea increase energy metabolism, boosting your rate so that your body burns calories, even at rest.
Caffeine can also provide a small, short-term boost to your metabolic rate of about 3 to 11%, which may help support weight loss, so drinking coffee may also help contribute to burning more calories every day.
Furthermore, numerous studies have found that eating certain spices—even some of which are not spicy or hot—can cause a small increase in your metabolic rate and can help suppress appetite.
Examples include spices like cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, hot pepper flakes, and chilies.
Hot red pepper flakes have also specifically been shown to decrease appetite and increase metabolic rate.
However, the increase in metabolic rate from green tea, coffee, spicy food, or any foods that boost metabolic rate is pretty insignificant so it’s not like you will be melting pounds just by drinking a cup of green tea in the morning or adding red pepper flakes to your soup.
#9: Do Workouts that Burn 500 Calories Or More
For some ideas on types of exercise and workouts to burn 2000 calories a day, check out our guide to workouts that burn 500 calories here.
Keep in mind that you will already be burning upwards of 1200 to 1800 calories per day, sitting all day at rest simply due to your BMR (basal metabolic rate).
Therefore, these are not necessarily 2000 calorie workouts to help you burn an additional 2000 calories a day above and beyond the calories burned at rest, but they are good ways to help you increase the number of calories you burn per day above your normal average number of calories burned per day.
You do not have to implement all of these tips to help you burn more calories per day, but consider adding a few to your daily routine to help you burn 2000 calories a day or more total for weight loss.
For some HIIT workouts to get you started, click here!
