You should determine your caloric needs in order to know how many calories you should eat in order to lose weight. The truth is that the amount of calories one should intake every day depends on each individual. There is no prescribed number of calories people should take in every day.
1,500 Calories or Not?
It is an interesting fact that people who wanted to lose can easily do so if they stick to 1,500 calorie intake per day. Most people who take this course of action get results by sticking with it day in and day out. However, it is not advisable for every single person who wants to lose weight to stick with this amount of daily calorie intake. Each person should determine their caloric needs in order to get a more accurate estimate.
Reasons to Determine Caloric Needs
It is always a good idea to measure your caloric needs in order to maintain your weight. However, this is also good for those who would also want to lose weight. Both groups of people will have to go over a little math in order to determine their caloric needs.
In order to determine how many calories should be consumed in order to lose weight, an assessment of individual basal metabolic rate will become necessary. Simply put, your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body needs in order to at least perform the most fundamental of bodily functions and thus sustain life.
Calculating Your Caloric Needs
Men and women calculate their basal metabolic rates quite differently. There are also other factors that affect the results when one calculates this rate of metabolism. A person’s height, age, and also his weight will significantly affect the calculation. Thus we have the following steps to arrive at the correct basal metabolic rate:
Men: 66 + (weight multiplied by 6.3) + (height multiplied by 12.9) – (age multiplied by 6.8)
Women: 655 + (weight multiplied by 4.3) + (height multiplied by 4.7) – (age multiplied by 4.7)
Note: The weight in this formula would be in pounds while the height should be expressed in inches. Age, of course, would be represented by the number of years.
Physical Activity
The amount of physical activity you engage in certainly affects your basal metabolic rate. The more active you are the more calories you will certainly need. Those who lead sedentary lifestyles should multiply their basal metabolic rate results by 20%. Those who are lightly active should multiply it by 30%, 40% for those who are moderately active, and 50% for those who are overly active.
