The average man living a sedentary lifestyle needs about 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain his weight. Another man, doing 8-12 hours of hard physical labor p

The average man living a sedentary lifestyle needs about 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain his weight. Another man, doing 8-12 hours of hard physical labor per day, needs about 3500-4000 calories. The truth is that what most people think of as 'exercise' is an order of magnitude less than what you'd need for physical activity to have a significant effect on your weight. A candy bar or frappucino easily replaces the calories burned in a gym workout, no matter how high intensity it is.