Shrinking’s Exercise Diary is a a great tool for helping you estimate the number of calories that you’re burning each day. Just enter your exercise and other activities for the day and the diary will calculate the number of calories that you have burned, based on your recent weight and height.
When you first visit the Exercise Diary you’ll see a daily template of 16 hours rest and 8 hours of exercise. This basically assumes no activity whatsoever. The goal is to make sure that your entire 24 hour day is accounted for. It’s best to start with the number of hours you slept that day and then start adding all of your activity. To add an activity you choose the activity from the list, enter the amount of time you spent doing that activity, and choose an activity (probably sleep or rest) to remove the time from. A typical day will probably have several different entries totaling up to 24 hours.
As you enter activities you’ll notice that each activity yields a different amount of calories burned, and some activities (like calisthenics) have multiple intensity levels. The diary is not an exact calculator, so just estimate your efforts and get as close as you can.
Consult your physician. Always speak with your family physician before undertaking an exercise program, just to make sure that you’re health enough to exercise. They can also provide you with other valuable information to help you get started.