Workouts that burn 1,000 calories may sound appealing, but keep in mind that burning that many calories in one session is typically unattainable for the average person.
Your body weight, current fitness level, body fat percentage, age, gender, and workout intensity all determine how long you need to work out to burn 1,000 calories.
Key Takeaways
- Burning 1000 calories in one workout is unrealistic and unattainable for most.
- Muscle mass burns more calories than fat, so maintaining/increasing muscle is a good way to maintain/increase your calorie burn even when you’re at rest.
- You can increase your calorie burn with Fitbod by selecting “Tone muscle and lose weight” as your goal. This will give you higher reps with lighter weights in a circuit training format so your heart rate stays more elevated.
Need a workout program? Try Fitbod for Free.
Is It Safe to Burn 1,000 Calories Per Day?
For most people, it’s not safe to burn 1,000 calories per day through exercise.
Depending on what kind of activity you do, you need to work out for over an hour to burn that many calories and it takes a long time to build up to that level of endurance. Plus, if you do higher-intensity workouts, it’ll be difficult to do them every day without getting injured or burned out.
Registered Dietitian, Avery Zenker, advises:
“In order to use 1000 calories for exercise, it’s likely not going to be a walk in the park (pun intended). There are a number of factors that impact how much each individual will burn during any given exercise. A group of people could all do the same workout, but use different amounts of calories. Some factors that impact our energy/calorie expenditure include body composition (amount of fat vs muscle etc), height, sex, weight, and more. Certain health conditions also can increase or decrease energy expenditure.”
Trying to burn 1,000 calories per day also becomes problematic if you’re eating a dangerously low number of calories, as this can be a sign of an eating disorder. If you’re trying to burn a high number of calories to offset behaviors such as binge eating, you need to consult with a medical professional.
Registered Dietitian, Sarah Gaginis, advises:
“My concern with thinking about calories burned during exercise is that it contributes to rigidity around exercise, which can be a slippery slope for disordered eating and eating disorders. Exercise should be about enjoyment and feeling good, not counting calories. Using the number of calories burned as a goal might seem like a good motivator at first, but it can be distracting from other health goals and create an unhealthy relationship to exercise.”
Factors to Consider When Burning 1,000 Calories
Everyone burns calories at a different rate based on several different factors, some of which are out of your control. Some considerations to take into account when trying to burn 1,000 calories include:
- Your gender. Men tend to burn more calories with physical activity because they generally have more muscle mass.
- Your age. As you get older, you lose muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat.
- Your body weight and body fat percentage. It’s easier for larger individuals or those with high body fat percentages to burn more calories with exercise. They have more mass to move, and it takes their bodies more energy to function properly.
- How in shape you are. Someone who’s new to working out may burn more calories with exercise than someone with a strong fitness background. People whose bodies haven’t yet adapted to physical activity may burn at a higher rate.
It’s also important to note that calorie counts on activity trackers and cardio machines can be incredibly inaccurate, so you can’t always tell exactly how many calories you’re burning. The best way to determine that number is to get a heart rate monitor, preferably one with a chest strap. Fitbod calculates calories burned based on the volume of weight lifted during a workout and the duration of the workout. It also uses your weight, height, gender, and age, which refines and improves the estimation of calories burned.
Weight is a required entry for Calories Burned to be estimated. Input your weight by either connecting Apple Health (for iOS) within the Fitbod app (this will use your height and weight data from Apple Health) or input your weight manually (for Android). Plus, if you have an Apple Watch, it will even factor in your heart rate when calculating calories.
Alternatively, you can use a metabolic equivalent of task (MET) calculator, but these kinds of calculators only work well if you’re very honest about how much effort you’re putting into your workouts.
Related Article: How Long Should A Workout Be? (Science-Backed)
Do You Need to Burn 1,000 Calories Per Day?
Burning 1000 calories a day through exercise is not advised. Instead, we recommend focusing on exercise that increases muscle, like resistance-training workouts, since muscle mass burns more calories than fat.
According to ACE, here’s an average of how many calories you can expect to burn during an hour-long workout doing weight training exercises.
Pace | 100-pound person | 150-pound person | 200-pound person |
---|---|---|---|
Normal | 136 calories | 205 calories | 272 calories |
Intense | 272 calories | 408 calories | 544 calories |
Fitbod builds you personalized workouts by combining cardio and resistance training so you burn calories during your workouts and build muscle to also burn calories when you’re at rest. You can also use Fitbod’s body composition feature to get a more comprehensive view of your body’s fat, muscle, and bone structure.
Registered Dietitian and Master of Science, Juliana Tamayo, explains:
“In general, burning 1,000 calories a day is not recommended. For the most part, 1,000 calories are burned slowly throughout weekly periods by introducing different exercises, including cardiovascular exercise, strength training, rest, and recovery. When you focus on only burning calories every day, you run the risk of over-exercising and injury. Also, the amount of time needed to burn this large amount of calories is not sustainable for everyone on a daily basis.”
Keep in mind that your body continues to burn calories while you’re at rest. This is what’s referred to as your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the number of calories your body burns by performing life-sustaining functions such as the beating of your heart, breathing, and circulation. You can lay in bed, not moving for an entire day, and still burn calories.
Most people don’t spend their days that way. As such, you also need to consider how many calories you burn per day through a combination of the life-sustaining functions mentioned above plus all of your other daily activities, including working out. This is referred to as your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
You likely already burn at least 1,000 calories per day just by existing. Doing things like walking to and from the parking lot at work, running after your kids, cleaning the house, and of course, exercising all contribute to your daily calorie expenditure.
However, you likely also eat more than 1,000 calories a day. And when you don’t burn off as many calories as you consume, it can lead to weight gain since you’re not expending all of that extra energy.
Many people tend to underestimate their calorie consumption and overestimate their activity levels, which is especially problematic when you’re trying to lose or maintain.
This may lead you to believe that you need to burn as many calories as possible through exercise, and you’ll punish yourself with long, intense workouts.
But the truth is, it’s not really necessary to burn 1,000 calories a day through exercise alone, even if you have weight loss goals. While it can certainly help, it requires a lot of exercise that many people either can’t handle or don’t have the time for.
Zenker notes:
“There’s a common phrase: ‘You can’t out-exercise a poor diet,’ and there’s definitely some truth to it. A holistic approach that includes a balance of healthy diet, quality sleep, physical activity, and stress management helps set us up for our wellness goals better than only focusing on one part.”
So instead of slogging through grueling workouts to try to burn 1,000 calories in one shot, you’re better off burning more calories throughout your entire day. Some of the ways you can do this include increasing your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) — or ways that you move your body without exercising — and getting in at least 8,000 steps per day.
Not sure how to get started with working out? Check out the Fitbod app and try your first workouts for free.
How Much Weight Will You Lose by Burning 1,000 Calories?
Most experts agree that you need to have a 3,500-calorie deficit per week to lose one pound. So if you burn 1,000 calories per day — or 7,000 calories per week — you could lose 2lbs per week.
However, it’s not that straightforward. Your rate of weight loss depends on your training age. Your training age refers to how many years you’ve been doing strength training. So for example:
- A 20-year-old who has been lifting weights since 14 has a training age of 6.
- A 40-year-old who has been lifting weights since 39 has a training age of 1.
It also comes down to what kind of training you do, how you eat, and other genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors.
Mayo Clinic Endocrinologist Dr. Michael Jensen also advises focusing on nutrition before exercise when trying to lose weight:
“Having an immediate change in eating habits, and then gradually increasing your physical activity until you have a comfortable, active lifestyle is probably the best combination.”
To make things more complicated, your progress will eventually stall when you’re on a weight loss plan. You can only sustain a 2lb/week rate of weight loss for so long. Think about it — if a 200lb person was able to consistently lose 2lbs/week, they’d lose close to half of their body weight in a year, which is an unrealistic expectation.
Furthermore, trying to lose weight at such an aggressive rate isn’t sustainable in the long term. It can also lead to a loss in muscle mass, which is usually the opposite of what many people want.
Burning 1000 calories in a single workout simply isn’t realistic for most people. Instead, it’s more feasible to break down your calorie burn into a series of workout sessions throughout the week.
The average workout on Fitbod lasts an hour and burns nearly 400 calories. So, if you do two to three 1-hour Fitbod strength training workouts per week, you’ll burn 1000 calories. The best way to increase your calorie burn with Fitbod is to select “Tone muscle and lose weight” as your goal. This will give you higher reps with lighter weights in a circuit training format so your heart rate stays more elevated. It will also give you more cardio.
You can also eat 250-500 calories less than your maintenance calories — which you can determine using an online TDEE calculator — and increase your NEAT calorie burn through your daily activities. By following a more reasonable approach, you can expect to lose 0.5-1lb/week.
- Related Article: Burning More Calories Than You Eat: How To Do It Properly
7 Ways to Burn 1,000 Calories
The activities below can all help you burn 1,000 calories. But how long it takes you to get there will depend on your workout intensity, body weight, your pace and how consistently you maintain it, and your current fitness level.
1. Running
According to ACE, here’s approximately how long a person would have to run to burn 1000 calories.
Pace | 100-pound person | 150-pound person | 200-pound person |
---|---|---|---|
5 miles per hour | 2.8 hours | 1.8 hours | 1.4 hours |
6 miles per hour | 2.2 hours | 1.5 hours | 1.1 hour |
7 miles per hour | 1.9 hours | 1.3 hours | 1 hour |
8 miles per hour | 1.6 hours | 1.1 hours | 0.8 hours |
10 miles per hour | 1.4 hours | 0.9 hours | 0.7 hours |
You can burn anywhere from 11 to 17 calories per minute from running, but the exact numbers vary based on how much you weigh and how fast you run.
Let’s say you weigh 150lbs, burn 15 calories per minute, and can run a 10-minute mile. You’d be able to burn 1,000 calories by running for about 70 minutes or 7 miles.
However, this assumes that you can maintain the same pace for all 7 miles. If your pace slows down at all, it will take you longer to burn 1,000 calories.
if you go on a run and log it in Fitbod, then Fitbod will automatically update your muscle recovery percentages so your next workouts will let your fatigued muscles rest.
2. Jumping Rope
Pace | 100-pound person | 150-pound person | 200-pound person |
---|---|---|---|
Slow | 2.5 hours | 1.5 hours | 1.3 hours |
Fast | 2 hours | 1.2 hours | 1 hour |
By jumping rope, here’s a rough estimate, according to ACE, on how long it would take to burn 1000 calories.
While jumping rope takes more coordination than other cardio activities, it can be highly effective for burning calories and losing weight.
According to Healthline, a 200-pound person can expect to burn up to 241 calories by jumping rope for 20 minutes. That means to burn 1000 calories, they’d have to jump for roughly an hour and 20 minutes.
In addition to having a positive impact on cardiovascular health, jumping rope also helps to strengthen muscles and bones. Plus, it can potentially improve balance and coordination.
3. High-Intensity Interval Training
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can burn 25-30% more calories than other forms of exercise, but the amount of calories you burn varies based on what kind of exercise you do.
For example, a HIIT cycling session for 30 minutes can burn anywhere from 390-690 calories. But you have to be a heavier person and pedal at close to a 20mph pace to get to the higher end of that range. If you’re a smaller individual or don’t pedal that fast, it can take at least 90 minutes to burn 1,000 calories.
Fitbod offers 15-minute HIIT workouts on demand in the app, with a bodyweight option and a dumbbell option, so you can do these for a quick calorie burn.
The one drawback of HIIT workouts is that you can’t sustain a high-intensity pace for very long because they require you to move at an intensity that you can only maintain for a few seconds. It’s not recommended to do HIIT workouts more than two to three days per week because of how taxing they are on the body.
4. Cycling
Here’s a rough guide based on calculations from ACE on how long you’d have to cycle to burn 1000 calories.
Pace | 100-pound person | 150-pound person | 200-pound person |
---|---|---|---|
5.5 mph | 5.5 hours | 3.7 hours | 2.8 hours |
12-13 mph | 2.8 hours | 1.8 hours | 1.4 hours |
16-19 mph | 1.8 hours | 1.2 hours | 0.9 hours |
If you’re cycling at a rate of 10-12mph, you can burn roughly 7 calories per minute depending on how much you weigh. If you bump up the intensity to 14-16mph, you can burn up to 15 calories per minute.
Based on these numbers, you’d have to maintain a pace of 14 mph for about 65-70 minutes to burn 1,000 calories.
5. Rowing
According to ACE, here’s how long it will approximately take to burn 1000 calories using a rowing machine.
Pace | 100-pound person | 150-pound person | 200-pound person |
---|---|---|---|
Moderate | 3.1 hours | 2.1 hours | 1.4 hours |
Extreme | 2.1 hours | 1.3 hours | 1 hour |
Depending on your weight, you can burn anywhere from 510-750 calories per hour using a rowing machine.
For smaller individuals, it would take just under two hours to burn 1,000 calories. If you’re tall or you weigh more, it could only take about an hour and 20 minutes.
6. Elliptical Machine
Like most cardio activities, how many calories you burn on the elliptical depends on the level of effort you put into it.
An average person can burn anywhere from 350-450 calories per hour moving at a moderate pace. You’d have to spend more than two hours on it to burn 1,000 calories.
- Related Article: Stairmaster vs Elliptical: Which Is Better For Weight Loss?
7. Vertical Climber
If you have access to a vertical climber, it’s one of your best bets for a high-calorie burn during your workout. Depending on your body composition, you can burn between 300-800 calories in a one-hour session.
The Cleveland Clinic highlights the additional benefits of the vertical climber. Since it combines cardio and strength training, it’s a total body workout, which saves time in your busy schedule. It’s also a low-impact workout, so you can go at your own pace, and the movements are easy on your joints.
For workouts that pair well with the cardio activities mentioned above, check out the Fitbod app. Your first 3 workouts are free, and no credit card is required.
- Related Article: Cardio Other Than Running: 12 Examples If You Hate Running
Tips To Burning More Calories Other Than Working Out
Many people don’t have the time to spend doing workouts long enough to burn 1,000 calories, but they also don’t do any other physical activity aside from exercising.
If you’re looking for ways to increase your TDEE, there are several creative, enjoyable things you can do to burn more calories when you’re not working out.
1. Increase your NEAT
As I mentioned earlier, NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which encompasses the daily activities you do outside of exercising. Increasing your NEAT is an excellent way to boost your total daily calorie output.
You only burn 30-40 calories for every 1,000 steps you take, so you’d have to get 33,000 steps each day to burn 1,000 calories from walking alone. It’s extremely difficult to do that unless you have an active job.
Fortunately, research shows that getting 8,000 steps per day is enough to improve your health. But you have to also engage in other activities that contribute to your TDEE to burn 1,000 calories per day just from increasing your daily step count.
To increase your NEAT when you’re at work, you can:
- Park your car further away from the office’s entrance
- Walk around your office building during your lunch break
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Get a standing desk
- Walk around while you’re on the phone, if possible
To increase your NEAT when you’re at home, you can:
- Set an alarm to walk around your house and stretch every hour
- Play kickball, tag, or Frisbee with your kids
- Invest in an inexpensive foldable treadmill to get more steps in while you watch TV
- Take your dog (if you have one) for more walks
- Do your own chores
- Fidget more — simply tapping your feet or bouncing your leg can burn a small number of calories
2. Join a recreational sports team
Participating in a sport you enjoy is a great way to burn more calories without feeling like you’re working out. You may be able to find a local basketball, soccer, or volleyball team near you.
A good thing about these leagues is that they’re often more focused on having fun, so you may not even need to have much experience to be part of a team.
3. Participate in seasonal outdoor activities
If you go to the beach, lake, or pool often in the summer, don’t just spend the entire time lounging in a chair. Go swimming, get out in the water on a kayak, or try stand-up paddleboarding to get more activity in your day.
On the flip side, in the winter, you can go skiing, snowboarding, or ice skating. Even shoveling snow from your driveway can help you burn more calories.
Fitbod provides ultra-personalized workout plans that help you make long-term progress. Fitbod’s workouts have helped hundreds of thousands of people get stronger, lose fat, gain muscle mass, and generally get (and stay) fit. With Fitbod, every workout is calibrated to your goals, ability and preferences–so all you need to do is open the app and get to work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much weight can you lose by burning 1,000 calories a day?
You need to burn 3,500 calories per week in order to lose 1lb/week. If you double that, you may be able to lose 2lbs/week because 1,000 calories x 7 days a week = 7,000 calories burned per week.
However, you can’t maintain that rate forever without losing muscle mass or negatively impacting your health. It’s much more reasonable to lose 0.5-1lbs/week by eating in a slight calorie deficit, increasing your NEAT, and doing whatever exercise you can fit within your schedule instead of doing hours-long workouts just to burn 1,000 calories.
Can You Burn 1,000 Calories in One Hour?
It is possible to burn 1,000 calories in one hour, but you’d have to work at a high intensity that many individuals can’t sustain for that long.
While running, cycling, and rowing are most ideal for burning a significant amount of calories, it will still take the majority of people at least 90-120 minutes to get to the 1,000-calorie mark.
How far do I have to walk to burn 1,000 calories?
On average, you can burn 100-200 calories during a 30-minute walk and cover 1.5 to 2 miles in that time. You’d have to walk for five hours or for a distance of at least 7.5 miles to burn 1,000 calories.
However, this depends on your weight, how fast you walk, what kind of incline you’re on, and many other factors. It’s better to focus on increasing your step count throughout the day rather than trying to burn 1,000 calories within one walking session.
What Types of Exercises Should I Do To Burn 1000 Calories?
To burn 1000 calories through exercise, engage in activities like running, high-intensity interval training, rowing, using the elliptical machine, cycling, using the vertical climber, or jumping rope.
Remember that calories burned depend on your weight and body composition.
Looking for a workout program? Try using the Fitbod App, which will design your program based on your logged training data and goals. The workouts will adapt automatically to your levels of recovery and rate of progress. With over 600 movements and exercises videos, you can be sure to perform the movements correctly for optimal results. Take the guesswork out of your workouts. Try Fitbod for free.
About The Author
Amanda Dvorak is a freelance writer and powerlifting enthusiast. Amanda played softball for 12 years and discovered her passion for fitness when she was in college. It wasn’t until she started CrossFit in 2015 that she became interested in powerlifting and realized how much she loves lifting heavy weights. In addition to powerlifting, Amanda also enjoys running and cycling.