"How many calories should I be eating?" This is a question I get asked a lot. Like, a lot.
By far, the most common weight-management strategy has got to be counting calories. It 
costs nothing. It never changes with the times. It requires no real understanding of nutrition. And, as long as you believe in science and the laws of energy and all that nonsense, there's really no arguing with the old calories in, calories out method of weight loss. Energy doesn't evaporate. It doesn't turn into other things. Energy just is. You must consume energy (food) and your bodily processes and activities will expend energy through chemical reactions inside the body. If you consume more energy than you expend, your body stores that additional energy in fat cells dispersed throughout the body and according to your gender, body type. If you expend more energy than you consume, your body will extract stored energy (fat) from within its fat cells, dispersed throughout the body, and convert it into usable energy to sustain your body's processes.
So the question of how many calories you need depends largely upon whether your goal is to gain weight, maintain your weight or lose weight.
Let's come back to that.
First, bookmark this page. You might like to come back to it from time to time to use the formulas and re-evaluate your caloric needs when your body size or lifestyle changes.
The best place to start is to determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories your body requires, at rest, to get through a day. Basically, this is the energy you require to blink, breathe, sweat, pee, poo, and daydream about George Clooney. Here's where that junior high arithmetic comes in handy (Your mother told you it would one day. Now's that day.). To calculate your BMR, use the following formula.
Note: I am Canadian and we still like our good ol' fashioned imperial measurements. You can google BMR to find a metric equivalent that I'll omit here to save space.
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)
So let's say, for example, that you are a woman of 40 years, 5 feet 5 inches tall and 160 pounds. For you:
BMR = 655 + (4.35 x 160) + (4.7 x 65) - (4.7 x 40)
BMR = 655 + (696) + (305.5) - (188)
BMR = 1,468.5 calories/day
Of course, you do more than just blink, breathe, sweat, pee, poo and dream about George Clooney in a day. Don't you? And I don't mean time spent on LaineyGossip.com... I mean cleaning, walking, exercising, playing with the kids, doing your day job, etc.
To calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), or the approximate number of calories you require in total each day, use the following standard formulas based on the amount of physical activity you engage in on the average day.
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) = BMR X 1.2
Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) = BMR X 1.375
Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) = BMR X 1.55
Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) = BMR X 1.725
Extremely active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job) = BMR X 1.9
So, going back to our 40 year old, 160-lb, 5'5" woman. Let's assume she is a mother of young kids, works a standard 9-5 desk job, and maybe jogs 3 days per week. I would categorize her activity level as "moderate." While her desk job burns very few calories, 
housekeeping, playing and generally mothering burns quite a few. Plus she deliberately burns calories 3 days/week when she jogs.
TDEE = 1,468.5 x 1.55
TDEE = 2,276 calories/day
In order to maintain your weight, aim to eat approximately the same number of calories as your TDEE (give or take a few - this is not a precise number, so don't obsess).
Stay tuned later this week to learn how many calories you need per day if your goal is to lose weight!
Do you count calories? Need help determining your BMR or TDEE? Comment below!
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