In overweight adults, doing aerobic exercise does not increase total daily calorie burn beyond what the exercise itself burns. Instead, the body adjusts by lowering the amount of energy used at rest, not by reducing everyday movement.

In overweight adults, regular aerobic exercise does not lead to eating more food or increasing the calories burned from digestion. Instead, the body's overall energy balance changes mainly because it burns fewer calories during daily activities.

After losing weight, obese adults who maintain higher levels of physical activity and food intake have a slightly higher resting metabolic rate than those with lower activity and intake, resulting in an increase of about 79 calories burned per day at rest.

In people who train regularly, a higher resting metabolic rate is not due to long-term changes from exercise, but rather to temporary increases in energy use during and after intense activity. When those high-energy conditions are removed, the metabolic rate difference between trained and untrained individuals disappears.

People who maintain a metabolic rate 1.7 to 1.8 times their resting energy expenditure through physical activity tend to have better control over hunger and burn more calories at rest than those with lower activity levels.

After doing weight lifting or short bursts of intense cardio, your body keeps burning more calories for hours afterward than it does after a long, slow jog—even if you burned the same total calories during each workout.