Determining Daily Calorie

Needs

Prepared by:

ROLLY R. BALBUTIN
PE Instructor
How to Determine Daily Calorie Needs
• Estimating daily calorie requirements is
challenging. Even the very best calculators
cannot determine an accurate metabolic rate
for every individual.
• Quite simply – everyone is different!
• However, the formulas established by peer-
review medical journals are helpful for the
majority of individuals. Those who engage in
very high levels of physical activity tend to find
the calculator estimations to be too low.
 What are calories?
• Calories are units of energy.
• When we eat a piece of cake that contains 250
calories, we are really eating 250 units of
energy.
• Weight gain occurs when our caloric intake is
more than the calories we expend.
• The body turns excess calories into fat.
Keeping track of how many calories you
consume in a day is important in maintaining
that delicate balance.
 Three formulas to estimated daily
energy requirements:
• 1. Uses Mifflin-St Jeor formula (most recent).
• 2. Can also select an older formula - Harris-
Benedict.
• 3. And a formula based on Lean Mass -Katch-
McCardle – but you must know your body fat
percentage.
• You can also choose BMR (Basal Metabolic
Rate) in the Exercise level. In this situation all
weight loss calorie levels are blanked out.
 Estimating BMR
• Calorie calculators will first estimate Basal
Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is effectively the
amount of energy expended per day.
• BMR is a measure of only the most basic
functions (effectively the same as if you rested in
bed the whole day). Other terms synonymous
with BMR are Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) and
Resting Energy Expenditure (REE).
• Once BMR has been estimated, various “activity”
factors are applied. Once again these are best
guesses based on contemporary research. One
individual may burn 100 calories on a 10 minute
run – another individual may burn 110 calories.
 HOW DO I KNOW HOW MANY
CALORIES I NEED?
• This calorie calculator works by estimating your total daily energy
expenditure, or TDEE, and measuring it against your weight goal.
TDEE, which is expressed as an average number of calories,
includes the amount of energy required to perform basic bodily
functions at rest (breathing, blinking) combined with the energy
expended by your activities (workouts, walking to the water
cooler). To gain weight, eat more calories than your TDEE. To lose
weight, eat fewer calories.
• An aggressive calorie deficit can help you lose weight faster, but it
can also make you hungry, sap your energy. If you feel this way
following the calorie calculator’s recommended target, increase
your calories by 200 and reevaluate how you feel after a week.
Your results may take longer to show up, but it will feel like less of
a struggle and you’ll be more likely to maintain your progress.
• Conversely, if you feel like the target gives you more than enough
to eat and you’re not seeing results, try adjusting the target down
slightly and eating less.
 DOES IT MATTER WHERE MY
CALORIES COME FROM?
• Human metabolism is complex, and gaining or
losing weight takes more than hitting your calorie
goal. Fat, protein, and carbohydrates all have
different nutrient functions in the body, and an
effective diet will include at least a little of all three
macronutrients.
• Protein builds muscle and maintains other body
tissue. Fat provides energy, regulates hormone
production, and keeps you full. Carbohydrates also
provide energy and help you sleep at night.
• Theoretically, eating fewer calories than you expend
can help you lose weight, but the type of calories you
eat influences your results.
• For example, if you eat very low-carb and have trouble
sleeping, your hunger levels could rise and you might
struggle to keep your calorie intake low enough to lose
weight. Or if you don’t eat enough calories from fat or
carbs to power your workouts, you could end up
burning fewer calories than you think, because you’re
not giving it your all in the gym.
• Fat, protein, and carbohydrates are all metabolized
differently and are converted into body weight with
different rates of efficiency. Protein and carbohydrates
each provide 4 calories per gram, while fat provides 9
calories per gram.
 WHAT ABOUT REVERSE DIETING?
• You need to eat fewer calories than you burn to lose fat.
However, if you restrict your energy intake for too long,
this can eventually slow your metabolism in a process
called "metabolic adaptation," which makes it difficult to
continue losing weight.
• To combat metabolic adaptation, you can use a strategy
called "reverse dieting," in which you gradually increase
your caloric intake in order to raise your metabolism. Even
though it sounds a little crazy to increase calories to lose
weight, this ultimately helps you burn more calories.
• To create an effective reverse diet, you may also need to
do less cardio and more heavy lifting, which will further
optimize your metabolism to build muscle and shed fat. If
you’ve reached a point with your dieting where you think
you may need to reverse diet, do it strategically to
maximize your results.
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CALORIE CALCULATOR
 MIFFLIN ST. JEOR CALCULATOR
• The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation
calculates your basal metabolic rate
(BMR), and its results are based on
an estimated average.
• Basal metabolic rate is the amount of
energy expended per day at rest.
Directions for using the calculator:
• 1. Select your sex.
• 2. Enter in your weight in KGS.
• 3. Enter in your height in CM.
• 4. Enter in your age. You now have your
BMR.
• 5. Next, multiply your BMR by activity
multiplier ( Basic Activity Factor).
 Basic Activity Factor
• 1.2: If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) = BMR x 1.2

• 1.375: If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3

• 1.55: If you are moderately active (moderate

• 1.725: If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days

• 1.9: If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports &

• Men
10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5

• Women
10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161
• The value obtained from this equation is the estimated
number of calories a person can consume in a day to maintain
their body-weight assuming they remain at rest.
• This value is multiplied by an activity factor (generally 1.2-
1.95) dependent on a person's typical levels of exercise in
order to obtain a more realistic value for maintaining body-
weight (since people are less likely to be at rest throughout
the course of an entire day).
• 1 pound of body weight, or approximately 0.45 kg, equates to
about 3,500 calories. As such, in order to lose 1 pound per
week, it is recommended that 500 calories be shaved off the
estimate of calories necessary for weight maintenance per
day.
• For example, if a person has an estimated allotment of 2,500
calories per day to maintain body-weight, consuming 2,000
calories per day for one week would theoretically result in
3,500 calories (or 1 pound) lost during the period.
• It is important to remember that proper diet and
exercise is largely accepted as the best way to lose
weight.
• It is inadvisable to lower calorie intake by more than
1,000 calories per day, as losing more than 2
pounds per week can be unhealthy, and can result
in the opposite effect in the near future by reducing
metabolism.
• Losing more than 2 pounds a week will likely involve
muscle loss, which in turn lowers BMR since more
muscle mass results in higher BMR.
• Excessive weight loss can also be due to
dehydration, which is unhealthy.
• Furthermore, particularly when exercising in conjunction
with dieting, maintaining a good diet is important, since
the body needs to be able to support its metabolic
processes and replenish itself.
• Depriving the body of nutrients it requires as part of
heavily unhealthy diets can have serious detrimental
effects, and weight lost in this manner has been shown in
some studies to be unsustainable, since the weight is
often regained in the form of fat (putting the participant
in a worse state than when beginning the diet).
• As such, in addition to monitoring calorie intake, it is
important to maintain levels of fiber intake as well other
nutritional necessities to balance the needs of the body.
CALORIES IN FOOD
Calories Burned from Common Exercises
Energy from Common Food Components
How Many Calories Do You Need?
 How Many Calories Do You Need?
• Many people seek to lose weight, and often the
easiest way to do this is to consume fewer calories
each day.
• But how many calories does the body actually
need in order to be healthy?
• This largely depends on the amount of physical
activity a person performs each day, and regardless
of this, is different for all people – there are many
different factors involved, not all of which are well-
understood or known.
 How Many Calories Do You Need?
• Some factors that influence the number of calories a
person needs to remain healthy include age, weight,
height, sex, levels of physical activity, and overall
general health.
• For example, a physically active 25-year-old male that is
6 feet in height requires considerably higher calorie
intake than a 5-foot-tall, sedentary 70-year-old woman.
• Though it differs depending on age and activity level,
adult males generally require 2,000-3000 calories per
day to maintain weight while adult females need
around 1,600-2,400 according to the U.S Department
of Health.
 How Many Calories Do You Need?
• The body does not require many calories to simply
survive.
• However, consuming too few calories results in the
body functioning poorly, since it will only use
calories for functions essential to survival, and
ignore those necessary for general health and well-
being.
• As such, it is highly recommended that a person
attempting to lose weight monitors their body's
caloric necessities and adjusts it as necessary to
maintain its nutritional needs.
Calories: Different Kinds and Their Effects
• The main sources of calories in a typical person's
diet are carbohydrates, proteins, and fat, with
alcohol also being a significant portion of calorie
intake for many people (though ideally this should
be limited since alcohol contains many empty
calories).
• Some studies have shown that the calories
displayed on nutrition labels and the calories
actually consumed and retained can vary
significantly.
• This hints at the complex nature of calories and
nutrition and is why many conflicting points of view
on the "best" methodology for losing weight exist.
• For example, how a person chews their food has been
shown to affect weight loss to some degree; generally
speaking, chewing food more increases the number of
calories that the body burns during digestion.
• People that chew more also tend to eat less, since the
longer period of time necessary to chew their food allows
more time to reach a state of satiety, which results in eating
less.
• However, the effects of how food is chewed and digestion
of different foods are not completely understood and it is
possible that other factors exist, and thus this information
should be taken with a grain of salt (in moderation if weight
loss is the goal).
• Generally, foods that take more effort to chew –
fruit, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, etc. –
require the body to burn more calories since more
calories are required to digest them.
• It also results in the feeling of satiety for longer
periods of time.
• Furthermore, certain foods like coffee, tea, chilies,
cinnamon, and ginger have been found to increase
the rate of calories burned due to the ingredients
they contain.
• The "quality" of calories consumed is also
important. There are different classifications of
foods in terms of calories including high-calorie
foods, low-calorie foods, and empty calories.
• Consistent with their naming, high-calorie foods are
foods that are calorically dense, meaning that there
are a high number of calories relative to serving
size, while low-calorie foods have fewer calories
relative to serving size.
• Foods such as fat, oils, fried foods, and sugary foods
are examples of high-calorie foods.
• Being a high-calorie food does not inherently
mean that the food is unhealthy however –
avocados, quinoa, nuts, and whole grains are
all high-calorie foods that are considered
healthful in moderation.
• Low calorie foods include vegetables and
certain fruits, among other things, while
empty calories are calories that contain few to
no nutrients such as added sugars and solid
fats.
• Studies have shown that there is a measurable
difference between consuming 500 calories of carrots
compared to 500 calories of popcorn.
• As previously mentioned, this in part can be
attributed to differences in how the foods are
consumed and processed. Carrots require far more
chewing and can result in more calories burned
during digestion.
• Again, the mechanism for these differences is not fully
defined, but simply note that for weight loss
purposes, the general formula of calories in minus
calories out determining weight gain or loss does
hold, but that the number of calories on a nutrition
label are not necessarily indicative of how many
calories the body actually retains.
• While there is no clear-cut or ideal amount of
macronutrient proportions a person should consume to
maintain a healthy diet or lose weight, eating a "healthy"
diet replete with a variety of unprocessed foods such as
vegetables, fruits, and lean meats is correlated with being
healthier and more likely to result in sustainable weight
loss.
• Also remember that calories from drinks comprise an
estimated 21% of a typical person's diet.
• Many of these calories fall under the category of empty
calories.
• While sodas are an obvious culprit, drinks such as juices and
even milk have large amounts of sugar and should be
consumed in moderation to avoid negating their nutritional
benefits.
• Ideally a person should imbibe water, tea, and coffee
without adding sugar in order to reduce calories gained
from drinks.
 Remember:
• All foods, including "healthful foods," should be
consumed in moderation, and distinctions can often
be misleading since even natural foods like fruits can
have large amounts of sugar, and foods labeled as
"health foods" such as low-calorie foods, reduced-
fat foods, etc. can potentially replace one unhealthy
component with another.
• Many reduced-fat foods for example have large
amounts of added sugar to compensate for taste lost
through fat reduction.
• It is important to pay attention to, and consider the
different components in a food product in order to
determine whether said food deserves a place
within your diet.
 Calorie Counting as a Means for
Weight Loss
• Calorie counting with the intent of losing
weight, on its simplest levels, can be broken
down into a few general steps:
• 1. Determine your BMR using the Mifflin-St
Jeor Equation. If you know your body fat
percentage, the Katch-McArdle Formula might
be a more accurate representation of your
BMR. Remember that the values attained
from these equations are approximations and
subtracting exactly 500 calories from your
BMR will not necessarily result in exactly 1
pound lost per week – it could be less, or it
could be more!
• 2. Determine your weight loss goals. Recall that 1
pound (~0.45 kg) equates to approximately 3500
calories, and reducing daily caloric intake relative
to estimated BMR by 500 calories per day will
theoretically result in a loss of 1 pound a week. It
is generally not advisable to lose more than 2
pounds per week as it can have negative health
effects, i.e. try to target a maximum daily calorie
reduction of approximately 1000 calories per day.
Consulting your doctor and/or a registered
dietician nutritionist (RDN) is recommended in
cases where you plan to lose more than 2 pounds
per week.
• 3. Choose a method to track your calories and progress
towards your goals. In the likely case that you have a smart
phone, there are many easy-to-use applications that
facilitate tracking calories, exercise, and progress among
other things. Many if not all of these have estimates for the
calories in many brand name foods or dishes at restaurants
and if not, can estimate calories based on amounts of
individual components of foods. It can be difficult to get a
good grasp on food proportions and the calories they
contain – which is why counting calories (as well as any
other approach) is not for everyone – but if you
meticulously measure and track the number of calories in
some of your typical meals, it quickly becomes easier to
accurately estimate without having to actually measure or
weigh your food each time. There are also websites that
can help to do the same, but if you prefer, manually
maintaining an excel spreadsheet or even a pen and paper
journal are certainly viable alternatives.
• 4. Track your progress over time and make changes to
better achieve your goals if necessary. Remember
that weight loss alone is not the sole determinant of
health and fitness, and you should take other factors
such as fat vs. muscle loss/gain into account as well.
Also, it is recommended that measurements be taken
over longer periods of time such as a week (rather
than daily) as significant variations in weight can
occur simply based on water intake or time of day. It
is also ideal to take measurements under consistent
conditions, such as weighing yourself as soon as you
wake up and before breakfast, rather than at
different times throughout the day.
• 5. Keep at it!
• The stated steps are an attempt at the most basic
form of calorie counting.
• Calorie counting is not an exact science, and can be
as complex as you want to make it.
• The above does not consider proportions of
macronutrients consumed.
• While there is no exactly known, ideal proportion of
macronutrients (fats, proteins, carbohydrates) some
balance is certainly advisable, and different foods
have been found to have different effects on health,
feelings of hunger, and number of calories burned.
• Generally, minimally processed plant and animal
foods tend to be more conducive to healthy weight
loss and maintenance.
• In the end however, what's important is picking a
strategy that works for you.
• Calorie counting is only one method used to
achieve weight loss amongst many, and even
within this method, there are many possible
approaches a person can take.
• Finding an approach that fits within your lifestyle
that you think you would be able to adhere to is
likely going to provide the most sustainable
option and desirable result.
 References:
• https://www.freedieting.com/calorie-needs
• http://www.leighpeele.com/mifflin-st-jeor-calculator
• https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutcal.htm
• MD Mifflin, ST St Jeor, et al. A new predictive equation
for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. J
Am Diet Assoc 2005:51:241-247. Link
• Frankenfield DC, et al. Comparison of Predictive
Equations for Resting Metabolic Rate in Healthy
Nonobese and Obese Adults: A Systematic Review. J
Am Diet Assoc. 2005;105:775-789. Link
• Frankenfield DC, et al. The Harris-Benedict studies of
human basal metabolism: history and limitations. J Am
Diet Assoc. 1998;98:439-445.