Have you ever asked yourself, "How many calories should I eat a day to lose weight?" Are you wondering how many calories that you need to consume daily in order to maintain a certain weight? A reasonable ballpark figure is about 1500 calories each day for the average woman and 2000 calories each day for the average man. The flaw with using these numbers is that not everyone is average. To find the number that is appropriate for your body, it's necessary for you to do a little simple math.
There is a simple formula, which has something to do with the Harris-Benedict principle that will enable you to calculate your basal metabolic rate or BMR. Once you have calculated that number you can then determine how you should adjust your caloric intake to either lose, gain, or maintain your weight.
Calculating Your BMR
Answering the question, "How many calories should I be eating each day," involves calculation your BMR. Your BMR is the base number of calories that your body requires simply to stay alive and breathe, without any additional exercise or demands upon it.
For Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 × W) + (4.7 × H) – (4.7 × A)
For Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 × W) + (12.7 × H) - (6.8 × A)
Where W = Weight in pounds, H = Height in inches, and A = Age in years.
A man with a weight of 195.2 pounds, height of 70 inches, and age of 29 would have a BMR of 1973.89. (BMR = 66 + (6.23 x 195.2) + (12.7 x 70) - (6.8 x 29) = 1,973.89)
Calculating Your Daily Activity
In order to calculate your actual caloric needs, you will need to multiply your BMR by a numerical factor representing your level of activity. These activity factors are provided below.
* You're sedentary with little or no exercise: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.2
* You participate in light exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.375
* You participate in moderate exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.55
* You are very active with hard exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.725
* You participate in very hard exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.9
If you sit in an office all day staring into a computer then you would be considered sedentary and, based upon the above sample BMR, you would require 1,973.89 x 1.2 = 2,368.67 calories each day to maintain your weight as it currently is.
You can easily perform this calculation for your own body. Simply calculate your BMR as shown in the example above, and multiply is by the appropriate activity factor given above. The answer will indicate how many calories that you should consume each day in order to maintain your present weight. To lose weight, you should decrease the number of calories; to gain weight, you should increase that number.
Eating to Lose Weight
To gain one pound of weight you need to consume 3500 calories. Every time you eat 3500 more calories than you need to maintain your current weight, you'll gain one pound. It's simple. To lose weight, you need to do the opposite. You need to cut down on calories so that your body experiences a caloric deficiency. The greater the deficiency, the more weight you'll lose.
The question, "How many calories should I eat a day?" has been answered. If you remember what you just read about BMR, it is a number that reflects your current weight. As you lose weight you'll need to recalculate that BMR using your new current weight to determine the calories that you will then need. It may be that you initially determined that you would have to reduce your caloric intake to 2000 calories to reach your goal weight. Once you've lost a few pounds, a recalculation of your BMR may show that you now only need to consume 1800 calories a day to reach that goal.
More related articles:
How Many Calories Should I Consume To Build Muscle?
How Many Calories Do I Need A Day to gain muscular weight?
There is a simple formula, which has something to do with the Harris-Benedict principle that will enable you to calculate your basal metabolic rate or BMR. Once you have calculated that number you can then determine how you should adjust your caloric intake to either lose, gain, or maintain your weight.
Calculating Your BMR
Answering the question, "How many calories should I be eating each day," involves calculation your BMR. Your BMR is the base number of calories that your body requires simply to stay alive and breathe, without any additional exercise or demands upon it.
For Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 × W) + (4.7 × H) – (4.7 × A)
For Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 × W) + (12.7 × H) - (6.8 × A)
Where W = Weight in pounds, H = Height in inches, and A = Age in years.
A man with a weight of 195.2 pounds, height of 70 inches, and age of 29 would have a BMR of 1973.89. (BMR = 66 + (6.23 x 195.2) + (12.7 x 70) - (6.8 x 29) = 1,973.89)
Calculating Your Daily Activity
In order to calculate your actual caloric needs, you will need to multiply your BMR by a numerical factor representing your level of activity. These activity factors are provided below.
* You're sedentary with little or no exercise: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.2
* You participate in light exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.375
* You participate in moderate exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.55
* You are very active with hard exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.725
* You participate in very hard exercise and sports: Actual caloric need is BMR × 1.9
If you sit in an office all day staring into a computer then you would be considered sedentary and, based upon the above sample BMR, you would require 1,973.89 x 1.2 = 2,368.67 calories each day to maintain your weight as it currently is.
You can easily perform this calculation for your own body. Simply calculate your BMR as shown in the example above, and multiply is by the appropriate activity factor given above. The answer will indicate how many calories that you should consume each day in order to maintain your present weight. To lose weight, you should decrease the number of calories; to gain weight, you should increase that number.
Eating to Lose Weight
To gain one pound of weight you need to consume 3500 calories. Every time you eat 3500 more calories than you need to maintain your current weight, you'll gain one pound. It's simple. To lose weight, you need to do the opposite. You need to cut down on calories so that your body experiences a caloric deficiency. The greater the deficiency, the more weight you'll lose.
The question, "How many calories should I eat a day?" has been answered. If you remember what you just read about BMR, it is a number that reflects your current weight. As you lose weight you'll need to recalculate that BMR using your new current weight to determine the calories that you will then need. It may be that you initially determined that you would have to reduce your caloric intake to 2000 calories to reach your goal weight. Once you've lost a few pounds, a recalculation of your BMR may show that you now only need to consume 1800 calories a day to reach that goal.
More related articles:
How Many Calories Should I Consume To Build Muscle?
How Many Calories Do I Need A Day to gain muscular weight?
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