Calculating Your Basal Metabolic Rate and Total Calorie Needs
Your
Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR is the rate at which you burn calories to sustain life functions at rest at a normal room temperature. Your activities, fitness level, stress level and more affect this. To calculate you take your resting metabolic rate and add the extra calories required by your daily activities to get an approximate total daily calorie expenditure.
To lose fat weight, it is generally recommended you eat 500 calories less than you burn up in a day.
To gain weight, it is generally recommended you eat at least 1000 calories more than you burn up in a day.
Here is
how to calculate your BMR based on the popular
Harris-Benedict formula:
Men
66 + (6.3 X weight in lbs) + (12.9 X height in inches) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women
655 + (4.3 X weight in lbs.) + (4.7 X height in inches) - (4.7 X age in years).
Example =
You are 32 years old woman
You are 5 feet 4 inches tall (162.5 cm)
Your weight is 154 pounds (70 kilos)
Your BMR is 655 + (662) + (291) - (150) =
1458 calories
Notes:
1 inch = 2.54 cm.
1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.
To calculate your Total Daily Calorie Needs,
Multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:
If you are Sedentary - little or no exercise
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.2
If you are Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.375
If you are Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.55
If you are Very Active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.725
If you are Extra Active (very hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.9
Example =
You are sedentary, multiply your BMR (1458) by 1.2 = 1750
Your total daily calorie requirement is therefore 1750 calories.
This is the total number of calories you need in order to MAINTAIN your current weight.
To lose weight you would reduce this by 500 calories per day or 1750-500 = 1250 calories/day