The calorie is the measure of energy. Every human being needs a certain number of calories to survive. Calories play a vital role in determining an individual’s body weight. People try very hard to lose weight by consuming fewer calories. But there’s no need to try anything hard; You can achieve weight loss simply by understanding your daily calorie needs and how many calories you eat every day. You need to have 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 necessary to maintain a healthy body and works well for weight loss. You can continue with this diet plan for a few months, but it becomes really difficult to follow the procedure forever. The only key is to continue to eat highly nutritious foods and maintain a healthy diet.
People never eat the same amount of calories that they burn. They may have fewer calories from not eating enough or more calories from eating too much. If you really want to lose weight, try to eat fewer calories than you burn so that your body burns stored fat resulting in weight loss. If you want to maintain your weight, try to calculate the number of calories you can burn and eat the same amount every day.
Calculate your daily energy needs
The calorie calculator helps you understand how many calories you need each day. You can find calorie calculators online and use them to estimate your daily caloric needs. You need to burn the extra calories to lose weight.
Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is very important in determining how many calories you need to maintain, lose, or gain weight. It helps estimate overall metabolic rate and is generally determined by various factors such as genetics, gender, age, height, weight, and level of physical activity.
The very simple formula to calculate the BMR is to multiply your total body weight by 10. For example, if your weight is 120 pounds, your BMR is 1,200 calories per day.
There are some other formulas as well to calculate BMR
Harris-Benedict formula:
This calculates the BMR based on total body weight, height, age, and gender. However, this formula may underestimate the daily calorie needs of very muscular individuals and may overestimate the calorie needs of overweight individuals.
The standard formula for calculating BMR for men is
BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) – (6.8 X age in years)
The standard formula for calculating BMR for women is
BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)
For example,
You are a man,
you are 30 years old
You are 5’8″ tall (177 cm)
You are 154 pounds (70 kg)
Your BMR = 66 + 959 + 885 – 204 = 1706 calories per day
You now know your BMR, but BMR does not include the number of calories from your activity level. You have to determine your total energy expenditure (number of calories you burn each day) by multiplying the BMR with different levels of activity.
There are several levels of activity as follows:
Sedentary
– No exercise or no physical activity involved. This is calculated as BMR x 1.2
slightly 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 basic exercise. This is calculated as BMR x 1.725
extremely active
— Involved in sports, hard daily training, etc. This is calculated as BMR x 1.9
Now, based on the example above, your BMR is 1706 calories per day. If your activity level is “moderately active,” your total energy expenditure is calculated as 1.55 x 1,706 = 2,644.3 calories per day.
Katch-McArdle formula:
This calculates the BMR based on lean body mass and is therefore more accurate. This does not 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 man,
you are 30 years old
You are 5’8″ tall (177 cm)
You are 154 pounds (70 kg)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 70) = 1882 calories per day
Multiply 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 journal to track the results of your weight loss program. Keep a goal and monitor the results periodically. For example, if you weigh 75 kg (approximately 165.3 lbs) in the month of June and want to lose 10 kg (approximately 22 lbs) in 2 months (i.e. in August), track your goal progress in the activity diary. Take note of all the activities you do during this period. Include details of the foods you eat, drink, exercise, etc. and analyze the results every week. You can definitely feel the difference in two months. The activity diary is very useful for weight control.
Do not hurt yourself to burn the calories that are already stored in your body. Practice light exercises like jogging, walking, etc. to burn extra fat.