It accounts for 50 to 75 percent of your daily caloric expenditure. The energy is responsible for maintaining things like the beating of your heart, functioning of other organs, your brain's activities and temperature regulation. There are different formulas for men and women because men, as a fact of life, start out with more muscle mass than women and therefore burn more calories through their basal metabolism. For instance, if you consume 2000 calories a day, you burn 200 of them by just digesting the food. In effect, eating helps you burn calories in the same way exercise does, just to a lesser extent.
Physical activity is the single-most important component of caloric expenditure.
When people think of burning calories, they think of vigorous exercise, such as jogging or playing tennis. However, many people forget that all physical activity burns additional calories. Everyone is somewhat guilty of taking the easy route when it comes to getting somewhere or doing other activities. But reminding yourself of the extra calories you are burning during the simplest tasks may help you to invoke healthier lifestyle habits by simply taking advantage of your own mobility.