You can find your Energy Burned settings by going to the More tab > Targets > Energy Settings.
These are the settings Cronometer uses to estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), in other words, the energy (calories/kilojoules) you burn in a day.
Your total energy burned in a day is made up of:
- Basal Metabolic Rate - energy burned at rest.
- Activity Level - energy burned through activities of daily living and exercise.
- Exercise - energy burned during workouts logged manually or imported from linked devices.
- Thermic Effect of Food - energy burned digesting your food.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Cronometer calculates your BMR by using the Mifflin St. Jeor Equation. BMR is the amount of energy that a person needs to keep the body functioning when at rest.
If you'd like to set a custom BMR, select Custom from the drop-down menu > Enter a custom value in the box below.
This will be a fixed value, unlike using the Mifflin St. Jeor Equation which will fluctuate with changes in your age, sex, height and weight.
Baseline Activity Level
At the beginning of the day, your Energy Burned will include your BMR and your Baseline Activity.
Your Baseline Activity is an estimate of the energy you burn throughout the day beyond your BMR. This includes daily living (general activity) and exercise. We recommend that most users leave this setting on the default (Sedentary) and then log exercise separately, or sync to a device that tracks exercise.
If you'd like to adjust your Baseline Activity, consider the following descriptions when choosing the activity level that is right for you:
None
No activity / comatose.
Sedentary (BMR x 0.2)
The Default Activity Setting. This accounts for basic daily living (sitting, eating, walking around the office or house).
Lightly Active (BMR x 0.375)
Basic daily living (sitting, eating, walking around the office or house) and/or light exercise 1-3 days/week.
Moderately Active (BMR x 0.5)
Moving frequently through the day (construction work, stocking shelves, cleaning, etc.) and/or moderate exercise 3-5 days/week.
Very Active (BMR x 0.9)
Intense activity through the day such as manual agricultural work or competitive athletic training.
Custom
Set your own fixed daily value for calories burned due to general exercise.
If you are synced with a device that tracks general activity, as the general activity from your device (= Tracker Activity) increases throughout the day, the Baseline Activity will be replaced by this imported activity to ensure that you are not overestimating your burned calories. This will now appear as Adjusted Baseline Activity in your Burned circle.
Exercise (either logged or imported from a device) will also adjust your Baseline Activity based on the time spent exercising.
Learn more about how we adjust Baseline Activity here.
Thermic Effect of Food
The thermic effect of food (TEF), also called diet-induced thermogenesis, is the rise in your metabolic rate after eating a meal. It takes energy to digest protein, carbs, fat and alcohol and this contributes a small amount to the total energy you burn in a day. Select this option to include an estimate of the energy you burn digesting your food.