Calculating caloric needs is essential in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The number of calories a person needs daily depends on age, gender, weight, height, and activity level.
To calculate caloric needs, it is important to determine the basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories the body needs at rest to perform basic functions such as breathing and circulating blood. The BMR can be calculated using an equation considering a person’s age, gender, weight, and height.
Enter your gender, height in feet and inches, age to calculate your basal metabolic rate
In addition to the BMR, the number of calories a person needs each day depends on their activity level. The more active a person is, the more calories they need to maintain their weight. A sedentary person may only need a few hundred calories daily, while a highly active person may need several thousand calories daily.
Once a person has determined their BMR and estimated their caloric needs based on their activity level, they can create a plan for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This plan may include reducing or increasing caloric intake and increasing physical activity based on one’s health and fitness goals.
Calculating caloric needs is essential in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight or striving to push you towards your goal weight. The number of calories a person needs daily depends on age, gender, weight, height, activity level, and goals.
The next lesson will explore balancing caloric intake and expenditure to achieve a healthy weight.
*Side note: Calculating our weight loss isn’t that simple, but that is the best approach. There are many variables that this simple measuring the calories in and out doesn’t consider. There are many other variables that we need to be considered to how fast or slow we lose weight, such as
-
- environmental and genetic factors
- metabolism speed
- types of food we consume (quality of food)
- hormonal responses to our everyday patterns of living and interactions we have
- how our body deals with stress