How to Calculate Calories Needed per Day without a Calorie Calculator

Learn how to calculate calories needed per day based on your body weight.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Accurate Scale
• Pencil and Paper

1. Calories from the foods we eat serve as the fuel in our body's furnace. However, taking in too many calories can be detrimental to our health by causing unwanted weight gain. Learn how to calculate calories needed per day without having to use a calorie calculator.

2. Determine your weight.
   
   Before you can calculate your daily calorie requirement, you must have an accurate weight number to use for the calculation. Use a high quality scale at home to weigh yourself before you move on to the next step.

3. Calculate Calorie Requirements.
   
   A general rule of thumb for calorie requirements is to take in 15 calories for every pound of body weight per day. For example, a 200 pound man would need approximately 3000 total calories per day, (200 pounds x 15 calories per pound = 3000 calories required per day). Taking in this amount of calories will lead to a fairly stable weight level within a small range of five pounds or so.

4. Evaluate Your Calorie Requirements.
   
   In order to lose weight, you need to lower the amount of calories consumed to an amount slightly lower than your daily requirement. This will enable your body to draw calories from stored reserves, such as abdominal fat, and allow you to lose weight slowly and naturally.
   If you are looking to gain weight slowly, a slight increase in calorie intake above requirements, (200 to 300 extra calories per day), will lead to a slow and natural weight gain.

Tips & Warnings

• Calories per pound of body fat: approximately 3500
• Average calories per day required for women: 1200 to 1500 calories
• Average Calories per day required for men: 2000 to 3000 calories
• Taking in excess calories, above requirements, causes weight gain.
• Taking in fewer calories, in conjunction with exercise, leads to weight loss.
• Exercise and activity levels will also determine your needed calorie intake.
• It's normal for weight to fluctuate within a range from week to week.
• Don't overdo it with calorie reduction. It's okay to consume 300 to 500 calories less per day than your requirements, however, too drastic a cut in calories consumed, and your body will start to go into crisis mode and conserve energy. This will lead to a slowdown in your metabolism and difficulty in losing weight.

[Mindee94]

on 6/5/2009 Great information on calorie requirements. Thanks