How Many Calories Does Your Body Need?

Food is not our enemy.  It’s a necessary part of living.  Think of your body as a machine and food as the fuel.  To keep your machine functioning in peak condition, you must fuel it with top-quality fuel.

 But the trick is just how much fuel our bodies need to keep all systems running smoothly.  Too often we over-estimate how many calories we should consume in a day.  This is especially true for women.  Turn over any box or can and take a look at the label.  The nutritional information you’ll find stamped on the back is based on a 2,000 calorie diet.  That may be great for your typical man, but women generally need far fewer calories, and excess gets stored in the body as fat.

 Use the Harris-Benedict Equation to calculate your individual caloric needs.  It may seem a tad confusing, but it’s the best way to figure your basal energy requirements (the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight without factoring in physical activity levels).  Notice that the equation is different if you are a male.  We ladies have very different caloric needs than our male friends.

If you are a woman:

655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

If you are a man:

66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Now take the number you got by completing the above equation and multiply it by the number corresponding to your activity level.

1.2 for sedentary (little to no exercise)

1.375 for lightly active (light exercise 1 to 3 days per week)

1.55 for moderately active (moderate exercise 3 to 5 days per week)

1.7 for very active (hard exercise 6 to 7 days per week)

1.9 for extremely active (hard daily exercise or a very physically demanding job)

If you are severely math disabled you can plug in your weight, height, and age into this super-cool website and the wonders of computer technology do all the ciphering for you.

The number you now have indicates your caloric needs to maintain your current weight.  You can adjust this number to help you achieve your individual goals.

If you want to lose weight, simply subtract 500 calories per day from your number.  This should put you on track to lose about a pound per week, a very realistic goal.

If you want to gain weight, just add 250 to 300 calories per day to your number.

To maintain your current weight, just keep the number as it is.

Happy calculating!

Any questions?  Hit me up in the comments below.