How to Calculate Your Daily Caloric Intake

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It is very important to not only know how to calculate your daily caloric intake but to understand why as well. The reason you need to know how to calculate your caloric intake is to help ensure that you are consuming the right amount based on your goal. For example if you are trying to put on size then you need to calculate your daily intake to maintain what you have then based on the goal and your activity level you will need to increase that caloric intake to ensure proper gains. You would do the same for dieting except that you would be reducing daily calories.

The first step in calculating your daily caloric intake is to determine what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is. The BMR is a measurement of energy within the body to keep it functioning in a resting state. To calculate the BMR follow the formula below:

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

The calculated number you get from this formula is the amount of calories your body needs to maintain your current weight. This does not take into consideration your activity level.

The second step is to now factor in your activity level. Your activity level is the amount of calories you burn every day with exercise. To determine your activity level pick which level is truest to you:

If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent=AC

If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40 percent =AC

If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50 percent =AC

The number you now have is the amount that you need to add to your BMR. Add them up and you now have the total daily caloric intake that you need to consume.

Now that you have your daily caloric intake figured out you need to work it into your goals. So if your goal is to lose weight then you need to create a calorie deficit. One pound is 3500 calories. So in order to lose anywhere from 1 – 2 pounds a week by diet alone you would need to reduce your daily caloric needs by 500 calories. If you do a regular exercise program, such as cardio, weight training or my Fitness Boot Camps then you would drastically increase your weekly weight loss.

If your goal is to gain weight then you would want to create a calorie excess. You should be eating at least an extra 500 calories a day to get on track to gaining some size. Good sources of calories to take in for this process would be lean meats such as lean red meats, poultry, fish, lean ground turkey. Again it all depends on your goals of how much you want to gain and your activity level. So your calorie intake excess could range anywhere from 500 – 3000 calories on top of your total daily caloric need. A healthy safe level to start with would be 500 calories.