Calorie is the measurement of energy. Every human being needs a certain amount of calories to survive. Calories play a vital role in determining the body weight of an individual. People strive hard to lose weight by consuming fewer calories. But there is no need to try anything hard; you can achieve weight loss just by understanding your daily calorie need and how much calorie you intake every day. You need to get an idea of your daily food requirement based on your lifestyle and eating habits.
It is recommended to take 1200 to 1500 calories per day to lose weight. This amount of calorie intake is very much necessary to maintain a healthy body and it works well for weight loss. You may continue this diet plan for few months but it becomes really difficult to follow the procedure forever. The only key is to maintain take highly nutritious foods and maintain a healthy diet.
People never eat the same amount of calories they burn. They may have fewer calories because of not eating enough or more calories by eating too much. If you really want to lose weight, try to eat less calories that you burn so that your body will burn stored fat resulting in weight loss. If you wish to maintain your weight, try to figure out the amount of calorie you can burn and eat the same amount every day.
Estimate your Daily Energy requirements
The calorie calculator helps you to understand how many calories you need each day. You can find calorie calculators online and make use of them to estimate your daily calorie needs. You need to burn the extra calories to lose weight.
Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is very important in determining the amount of calories you need to maintain, lose or gain weight. It helps in estimating overall metabolic rate and is usually determined by various factors like genetics, gender, age, height, weight and your physical activity level.
The very simple formulae for calculating BMR is to multiply your total body weight by 10. For example, if your weight is 120 lbs, your BMR is 1200 calories per day.
There are some other formulas as well to calculate BMR
Harris - Benedict formula:
This calculates BMR based on total body weight, height, age and gender. But, this formula may underestimate the daily calorie needs for highly muscular people and it may over estimate calorie needs for over fat people.
The standard formula to calculate BMR for men is
BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
The standard formula to calculate BMR for women is
BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
For Example,
You are a male,
You are 30 years old
You are 5'8" tall (177 cm)
You are 154 lbs (70 kgs)
Your BMR = 66 + 959 + 885 - 204 = 1706 calories per day
Now you know your BMR, but BMR does not include the amount of calorie from activity level. You have to determine your total energy expenditure (amount of calories you burn every day) by multiplying BMR with different activity levels.
There are several activity levels as follows:
Sedentary
- No exercise or no physical activity involved. This is calculated as BMR x 1.2
Lightly active
- Very light exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.375
Moderately active
- Moderate exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.55
Very active
-- Hard core exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.725
Extremely active
-- Involved in sports, hard daily work outs etc. This is calculated as BMR x 1.9
Now as per the above example, your BMR is 1706 calories per day. If your activity level is "Moderately active", Your Total Energy expenditure is calculated as 1.55 x 1706 = 2644.3 calories per day.
Katch-McArdle formula:
This calculates BMR based on lean body Mass and hence it is more accurate. This doesn't have separate formulas for Men and Women.
BMR = 370 + (21.6 X Lean Mass in KG)
** This formula applies to both Men and Women***
For Example,
You are a male,
You are 30 years old
You are 5'8" tall (177 cm)
You are 154 lbs (70 kgs)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 70) = 1882 calories per day
Multiply the activity level factor with BMR to determine Total Energy expenditure
If your activity level is "Moderately active", Your Total Energy Expenditure is 1.55 x 1882 = 2917.1 calories per day.
Activity diary
Use an activity diary to track your weight loss program results. Keep a goal and monitor the results periodically. As an example, If you are 75 kgs (approx 165.3 lbs) in June month and you want to shed 10 kgs (approx 22 lbs) in 2 months (i.e., by August), track the progress of your goal in activity diary. Make a note of all the activities you do during this period. Include the details of food you eat, drink, exercise etc and analyse the results every week. You can definitely feel the difference in two months. Activity diary is very useful for weight management.
Do not hurt yourself to burn the calories that are already stored in your body. Practise light exercises like jogging, walking etc to burn extra fat.
It is recommended to take 1200 to 1500 calories per day to lose weight. This amount of calorie intake is very much necessary to maintain a healthy body and it works well for weight loss. You may continue this diet plan for few months but it becomes really difficult to follow the procedure forever. The only key is to maintain take highly nutritious foods and maintain a healthy diet.
People never eat the same amount of calories they burn. They may have fewer calories because of not eating enough or more calories by eating too much. If you really want to lose weight, try to eat less calories that you burn so that your body will burn stored fat resulting in weight loss. If you wish to maintain your weight, try to figure out the amount of calorie you can burn and eat the same amount every day.
Estimate your Daily Energy requirements
The calorie calculator helps you to understand how many calories you need each day. You can find calorie calculators online and make use of them to estimate your daily calorie needs. You need to burn the extra calories to lose weight.
Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is very important in determining the amount of calories you need to maintain, lose or gain weight. It helps in estimating overall metabolic rate and is usually determined by various factors like genetics, gender, age, height, weight and your physical activity level.
The very simple formulae for calculating BMR is to multiply your total body weight by 10. For example, if your weight is 120 lbs, your BMR is 1200 calories per day.
There are some other formulas as well to calculate BMR
Harris - Benedict formula:
This calculates BMR based on total body weight, height, age and gender. But, this formula may underestimate the daily calorie needs for highly muscular people and it may over estimate calorie needs for over fat people.
The standard formula to calculate BMR for men is
BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
The standard formula to calculate BMR for women is
BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
For Example,
You are a male,
You are 30 years old
You are 5'8" tall (177 cm)
You are 154 lbs (70 kgs)
Your BMR = 66 + 959 + 885 - 204 = 1706 calories per day
Now you know your BMR, but BMR does not include the amount of calorie from activity level. You have to determine your total energy expenditure (amount of calories you burn every day) by multiplying BMR with different activity levels.
There are several activity levels as follows:
Sedentary
- No exercise or no physical activity involved. This is calculated as BMR x 1.2
Lightly active
- Very light exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.375
Moderately active
- Moderate exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.55
Very active
-- Hard core exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.725
Extremely active
-- Involved in sports, hard daily work outs etc. This is calculated as BMR x 1.9
Now as per the above example, your BMR is 1706 calories per day. If your activity level is "Moderately active", Your Total Energy expenditure is calculated as 1.55 x 1706 = 2644.3 calories per day.
Katch-McArdle formula:
This calculates BMR based on lean body Mass and hence it is more accurate. This doesn't have separate formulas for Men and Women.
BMR = 370 + (21.6 X Lean Mass in KG)
** This formula applies to both Men and Women***
For Example,
You are a male,
You are 30 years old
You are 5'8" tall (177 cm)
You are 154 lbs (70 kgs)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 70) = 1882 calories per day
Multiply the activity level factor with BMR to determine Total Energy expenditure
If your activity level is "Moderately active", Your Total Energy Expenditure is 1.55 x 1882 = 2917.1 calories per day.
Activity diary
Use an activity diary to track your weight loss program results. Keep a goal and monitor the results periodically. As an example, If you are 75 kgs (approx 165.3 lbs) in June month and you want to shed 10 kgs (approx 22 lbs) in 2 months (i.e., by August), track the progress of your goal in activity diary. Make a note of all the activities you do during this period. Include the details of food you eat, drink, exercise etc and analyse the results every week. You can definitely feel the difference in two months. Activity diary is very useful for weight management.
Do not hurt yourself to burn the calories that are already stored in your body. Practise light exercises like jogging, walking etc to burn extra fat.
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