How Many Calories Should I Eat

How many calories you should eat depends on whether your goal is to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight.

The first step is to determine how many calories you currently burn over the course of a day.

The number of calories you body needs to maintain a steady weight are equal to your basal metabolic rate (BMR) plus your activity level.

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of calories that your body needs to survive without any activity. If you are lying in the hospital in a coma, your daily calorie consumption would very much equal your basal metabolic rate.

Your BMR depends on several factors like:

• your current weight – the good news is that for every pound that you currently weigh, you also need to eat calories just to keep that weight.
• your height – it obviously makes a difference if your weight is spread over 1.6 m or 2 m, meaning even if Tom Cruise and Michael Jordan had the same weight, their BMR would be different.
• Your gender – men have a higher percentage of muscle, which means that they burn more calories per pound of bodyweight. Unfair, I know, but nothing we can do about it.
• Your age – your metabolism slows down the older you get! Take advantage of that and start your life changing diet now, because next year it is getting even harder!

If you need to lose weight

In order to lose weight, you’ll need to eat fewer calories. To lose roughly one pound a week, subtract 500 calories (kcal) from your maintenance number. In order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit. It is easier and healthier to cut back your calorie intake a little bit at a time. Every 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound.

So if you cut back 500 calories a day, you should lose about one pound per week. Or if you exercise to burn off 500 calories a day you should lose approximately one pound per week. Do both, and … you get the picture? Ideally you should do a combination of both, (such as cut back 250 calories; burn an extra 250 calories).

Your weight loss will vary from week to week and at times you may even gain a little weight — if you’re working out you could be developing muscle, which weighs more than fat.

To lose about two pounds a week, subtract 1000 kcal from your maintenance number. That would mean eating about 1300 kcal per day. Note: Eating fewer than 1200 kcal a day for more than a day or two is not recommended without medical supervision.

In order to gain weight, you’ll need to eat more calories. To gain roughly one pound a week, add 500 calories (kcal) to your maintenance number. That would mean eating about 2800 kcal per day.

For more information, read How Many Calories Do I Need and Daily Calorie Intake.  To determine the number of calories in common food, review the Food Calorie Chart. For more great diet ideas, visit Low Calorie Snacks and 100 Calorie Snacks.