Calculating your recommended daily calorie intake

culled from:tescohealthandwellbeing.com

We all know that in order to lose weight, we need to eat under a certain amount of calories. But how do we find that magic number that will allow us to lose consistently? There is a fine line between eating too much, which will cause weight gain, and eating too little. How do we walk that line in between for successful weight loss? Here we explain the factors that need to be taken into consideration when calculating your recommended daily calorie intake.

How do I know what daily calorie intake is right for me?

When calculating your recommended daily calorie intake there are several factors to consider:

• Gender
• Age
• Activity level
• Height
• BMI
• Current weight

A ‘one size fits all’ approach will never work because we are all individuals and all have different needs. This is why you will often have that one friend who seems to lose weight effortlessly while you struggle with every pound. (Aren’t people like that just annoying?)

Gender: Men and women are not created equal.

However much we like to think that women and men are on an equal footing, physically, both gender’s genetic make-up are different. So it stands to reason that our respective caloric needs will be different too. Men are naturally more muscular so will usually need a higher amount of calories to sustain them. So too will their metabolism be faster, meaning they will lose weight faster too. This doesn’t really seem fair to their female counterparts does it? Women tend to have a slower metabolism and store fat more easily because our bodies are geared for childbearing. But don’t worry, ladies, this doesn’t mean we won’t get there in due course.

Age: Can you turn back time?

A person’s metabolic rate can slow down as they age and this is why you have difficulty shedding those extra pounds in your fifties and onwards which you once found easy to shake off in your younger years. This is another factor that has a bearing on how your recommended daily calorie intake is calculated so if you are advancing in years it will make a difference. However, regular exercise can help to boost your metabolism and ‘turn back time’ a little.

Activity level: Kicking it.

Your activity level can make a big difference to how many calories you burn each day. Everybody needs a certain amount of calories just to get through the day and these are needed to sustain basic functions such as breathing, thinking and pumping blood around your body. After that, any excess calories are stored as fat so if you don’t use them, you will soon see them manifest as weight gain. This is why regular exercise is so important. If you exercise a lot then of course you will need more than the minimum amount of daily calories. Be sure that you have enough calories to sustain the appropriate activity level and you will lose weight more effectively. Eat too little and your metabolism will slow down, the body will store spare calories as fat and you will quite likely end up feeling very hungry. Eat well, stay active and you will lose more consistently.
When setting your activity level, be honest with yourself. People tend to over-estimate the amount of exercise they do. For instance, somebody might choose to say “I am quite active during the day.” They may be moving about a lot but if the only regular exercise they are doing is walking the dog then they won’t lose weight as effectively as the person who’s also on their feet every day but who goes running each morning or who does a daily session in the gym.

BMI: What’s right for you?

Your BMI or Body Mass Index is a measurement of your physical mass based on your height and weight. Also taken into account is your age and gender. There are many BMI calculators available online and a quick search for one of these will tell you exactly where you stand. Here is a quick table that will show you what is deemed healthy and what isn’t.

BMI of -20	Underweight
BMI of 20-25	Healthy weight
BMI of 26-30	Overweight
BMI of 31-40	Obese
BMI of 40+	Morbidly obese

As you can see, it’s important to aim to stay in the low 20’s for good health but even staying out of the obese category means you are less likely to end up with weight-related health issues so being aware of your BMI and monitoring it on a regular basis makes sense.

So how many calories per day do I need?

As mentioned earlier in this article, there is no ‘one size fits all’ figure but we can make general recommendations which will give you an idea of what to aim for. For most women, a minimum daily calorie intake of 1200 calories per day is recommended when on a weight loss plan. However, if you have a high BMI or are taking regular exercise, you may need a higher amount of calories. For maintaining or losing at a slow pace, about 1400-1600 calories are? recommended. (Again, if you are very active or have a high BMI you may need more) Anything higher than that may take you into weight gain but we would recommend that you calculate your ideal calorie allowance before embarking on a weight loss plan, taking into account all the factors mentioned above. As you lose, your daily calorie requirements may change, so it’s a good idea to keep checking your BMI and calorie allowance so you will continue to lose weight consistently. The same applies if your activity level changes.
For men, it will be a higher figure. About 1500 calories would be the minimum recommended requirement. 1700-2000 for slow steady weight loss/maintenance and 2300+ would be weight gain. Again, the factors of activity level and BMI apply so it’s best to check your individual needs and what you are aiming to achieve before embarking on a weight loss plan.