I’ve asked this question to different people and I’ve always gotten different answers. It wasn’t until I took a nutrition class in college till I fully understood what calories are and how much I should be consuming of it.
To accurately calculate the amount of calories you need to consume per day, you need to calculate your BMR and multiply it to your current activity level. By the end of this article you’ll be able to determine or get an idea on how much calories you should be consuming daily.
In order for you to fully understand how many calories you should eat in a day, you need to understand a few important factors that will determine the calculation of your calories.
Topics:
- What Calories Are
- How are Calories Calculated
- Macronutrients
- Basal Metabolic Rate
- Caloric Deficit
What Calories Are?
Calories are energy measurement that a certain food provides. Macronutrients (Protein, Carbs, and Fat) contain different amounts of calories.
Amount of Calories in Protein, Carbs, and Fat
How Are Calories Calculated?
Calorie is a unit of measure of energy. In food, calorie is actually “kilocalorie”, which is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one liter of water by one degree.
How Many Calories In One Pound?
It takes 3500 calories to burn 1 pound of fat. Seems a lot but trust me it’s not.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal Metabolic Rate or commonly known as BMR, is the amount of calories your body burns by performing its basic functions. Functions such as: breathing, blood circulation, and food digestion.
Calculating your BMR is vital information to obtain for your fitness journey. By knowing how much calories your body burns for its basic functions you’ll be able to calculate how much more or less calories to consume.
Basal Metabolic Rate is the calculation of the basic function of your body and does not take account of your daily activity.
BMR Formula (Revised Harris-Benedict Equation)
For men: BMR = (13.397 x Weight) + (4.799 x Height) – (5.677 x Age) + 88.362
For women: BMR = (9.247 x Weight) + (3.098 x Height) – (4.330 x Age) + 447.593
Height in Centimeter
Weight in Kilogram
A = Age
Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator (Using Harris-Benedict Equation)
Reminder: BMR is the amount of calories your body burns by performing its basic functions. The amount of calories you got from the calculator does not add the amount you burn from your daily activities.
Caloric Deficit
Caloric deficit is when someone cuts the consumption of calories to maintain or lose weight.
The recommended caloric deficit is 500 calories per day.
If the caloric deficit is done right, you should see great results.
Example of Caloric Deficit
If someone is required to consume 2000 calories per day and wants to lose 1 lbs of fat, that person needs to do a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day.
Remember there are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat.
So 500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories.
Meaning that person should lose 1 lbs of fat per week.
Studies have shown negative effects when someone performs 1000 caloric deficit. Negative effects such as: slow down of metabolism, muscle loss, fatigues, and many more.
Accurately Calculating Your Daily Caloric Intake
To accurately calculate your daily caloric intake, you need to take account of your current daily physical activity.
Use the BMR calories you got and multiply it to the activity level that is closest for you.
|
Activity Level |
x (amount) |
Type |
|
Sedentary |
1.2 |
Someone who does very little exercise and has a desk job. |
|
Light Activity |
1.375 |
Someone who engages in exercise at least 1-3 days per week. |
|
Moderate Activity |
1.55 |
Someone who requires to move a lot during the day for work and workout 3-5 days a week |
|
Very Active |
1.725 |
Someone who engages in vigorous exercises on most days. |
|
Extra Active |
1.9 |
Someone whose work requires high demand of physical activity and engages in intense workouts 6-7 days a week. |
Example Case Study:
Use this example below to get an idea on how to properly calculate your daily intake.
John: 42 year old male, weighs 170 pounds, with a height of 5 foot 10 inches. John works as an accountant that consists of him sitting down most of the day and also workouts 1-3 days per week.
John’s Goal: to lose 5lbs in 2 months.
First Step: Use the BMR Calculator
John’s BMR: 1734 Calories Per Day
Second Step: Multiply BMR according to Activity Level.
Since John exercises at least 1-3 days a week. We multiply his BMR to 1.375.
1734 Cals x 1.375 = 2,384 Total Calories.
Third Step: Calculate the caloric deficit.
This part will be the hardest part of calculating how many calories John should eat in a day.
Since John’s goal is to lose 5lbs in 2 months let’s calculate total caloric daily deficit.
First, let’s get the total weeks.
2 months = 4 weeks.
4 weeks = 56 days.
So John has 56 days to lose 5lbs.
Second, Let’s calculate how many calories in 5 pounds.
Remember 1 lbs of fat is 3500 calories.
So, 5lb x 3500cal = 17,500 total caloric deficit in 56 days.
Finally, get the daily caloric deficit
Divide the total caloric deficit to the number of days.
17,500cal ÷ 56 days = 312.5 caloric deficits per day.
Since John’s Total Daily Calories is 2,384, we need to subtract 312.5 to get his new daily calories.
2,385 – 312.5 = 2,072.5 is his new daily calorie intake to meet his 5lb fat loss in 2 months.
Everyone’s goal is different. If you were able to follow along, you should be able to calculate how many calories you should eat in a day depending on your current physical fitness and goal.
Here’s something to think about, instead of strictly doing caloric deficit through not eating, how about a caloric deficit through working out.
Burn more and still eat the same or not as much.
