Once a week, someone calls us with the same question: "Which class will help me lose weight?" Our honest answer is that no single class can on its own. To see why, you need to know what "burning calories" really means and where your daily energy actually goes. The answer surprises most people, especially those with busy desk-based jobs.
What does "burning a calorie" actually mean?
A calorie is simply a unit of energy. The calories on a food label are the energy stored in that food, the same way petrol stores energy for a car.
Your body is a bit like an engine that never switches off. When you eat, your body breaks food down and combines it with the oxygen you breathe in. This releases energy, which your body uses to keep you alive, move your muscles and stay warm. That process is what we mean by "burning" calories. Nothing is set on fire. It's a chemical process happening quietly in every cell, all day and all night.
Two points make this easier to picture:
You burn calories all the time, not only when you exercise. Even asleep, your body is using energy.
Your body doesn't just burn calories during workouts. A workout is one use of energy among several, and for most people it isn't the biggest one.
The total energy you burn in a day is made up of four parts.
Basic metabolism: about 60-70% of your daily burn
This is the energy your body uses just to keep you alive: breathing, pumping blood, running your brain, repairing cells and keeping your temperature steady. It's often called your resting or basal metabolic rate. For most people it's the biggest slice by far, and you burn it whether you're in a board meeting, on the sofa or asleep. It depends on your body size, age, sex and genetics. More muscle raises it, but only modestly, so it's not a quick hack.
Digestion: about 10% of your daily burn
Eating costs energy too. Your body has to break down, absorb and store the food you eat, and this is called the thermic effect of food. The usual range is around 8-15%. Protein takes the most energy to digest, then carbohydrates, then fat. But the extra calories burned from eating more protein are small. The bigger benefits of protein are that it keeps you feeling full and helps protect your muscle.
NEAT: about 15-30% or more of your daily burn
NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which is a long name for all the movement in your day that isn't formal exercise. Think of walking to meetings, taking the stairs, standing at your desk, pacing on a phone call, carrying shopping and even fidgeting. NEAT varies enormously from person to person. Two people with the same job can burn very different amounts through everyday movement. For many people with desk-based jobs it's also the part that's easiest to change, because small habits repeated all day add up.
Exercise: about 5-10% of your daily burn for most desk-based people
This is the planned, structured part: a group class, a run, a personal training session. For most busy professionals who train a few times a week, it's the smallest slice of the four. That doesn't make exercise less important. Training builds strength, supports heart health, protects bone and muscle as you age, improves mood and sleep, and supports longevity. It just isn't the main way most people burn calories.
What it looks like in a typical day
Here's a simple illustration for someone who burns about 2,000 calories a day. These numbers are examples, not predictions, because everyone is different:
Basic metabolism: about 1,300 calories
Digestion: about 200 calories
NEAT: about 400 calories
Exercise: about 100 calories
Notice that a workout is only a small part of the picture, and everyday movement can be bigger than the workout itself.
Why your calorie expenditure numbers are particular to your body
Your body size, age, sex, genetics and muscle mass all change your resting burn, so the percentages above are typical ranges, not personal targets. Two other points are worth knowing:
Some people move less after a hard workout, which can offset part of the calories burned. This varies between individuals and is still debated by researchers, but it's another reason to keep your everyday movement up.
Calories burned is only half the story. What you eat matters just as much for weight, because weight comes down to the balance between energy in and energy out.
So, which class will help me lose weight?
None of them can on their own, because a class lasts about an hour and your day has 24. What you do and eat in the other 23 hours has a big effect, and we can't see that from the studio floor.
Here's what we suggest instead:
Take walking calls.
Stand or walk every hour.
Take the stairs.
Build meals with enough protein, for fullness and muscle.
Then train for strength and health.
Our group classes at Chisel N Stride are great for building strength, fitness and confidence, so use them for exactly that. Just don't rely on them alone to burn calories.
Want a calorie assessment for your body?
If you'd like more than a workout, our personal training clients get a plan built around their real life. Every week we track their habits and the foods they eat, so we can see what's working and adjust together. Contact us to ask about booking in a personal training where we conduct a full assessment to guide you on caloric intake and expenditure if your goal is to lose weight
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition or are making significant changes to your diet or exercise, speak to your doctor first.