How to Compute Your Daily Caloric Intake

There is no magic number we should target for our calorie consumption each day. It depends on so many factors, but probably the most important factor is your activity level. As we will see, there is a huge difference in the calories burned by a person who is active as opposed to one who is sedentary. But before we get into our calorie calculator, let's explore exactly what a calorie is and what foods make up caloric intake.

A calorie is a unit of energy that measures the amount of energy those foods provides the body as you take in these calories in the form of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It takes 3500 calories to equal one pound of body weight. Different food of the same size servings may have vastly different amounts of calories. For instance:

• A gram of protein contains four calories.
• A gram of carbohydrate contains four calories.
• A gram of fat contains nine calories.
• A gram of alcohol contains seven calories.
• A gram of dietary fiber contains three calories.
• A gram of water contains no calories.

Also, there are certain fat burning foods; therefore much depends on what foods we put into our diet. So to give a very broad standard of how many calories we should be consuming in order to neither gain nor lose weight, the average male 5 feet 10 inches weighing 174 pounds who performs light to moderate activity needs about 2900 calories per day. The average female who is 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 138 pounds would need 2200 calories per day. Unfortunately, there are so many variables that enter into the equation that this can be used only as a very rough guide.

The formula that is used to most accurately calculate the calorie needs of a person based variables such as height, weight, age and gender is the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) formula. The one factor it does not take into account is lean body mass. As a result, it will not be totally accurate with those very muscular (calories needed will be underestimated) as well as the very fat (calories will be overestimated). The formulas are as follows:

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)
Next, factor in your activity level with the following:

• Sedentary: BMR x 20%
• Light activity: BMR x 30%
• Moderately active (exercising over three days a week): BMR x 40%
• Very active (exercising intensely on a daily basis): BMR x 50%
• Extremely active (hard labor or athletic training): BMR x 60%

This number is added to you BMR and that number is the number of calories that you can eat on a daily basis to maintain your weight. These formulas factor in as many variables as we can, but bear in mind it is only a calorie counter and not a pure guide to what you can eat. All calories are not created equal. Foods that may be the same in calories are going to do entirely different things to your body once you consume them.

The value water has to losing weight cannot be overemphasized, as we point out in our article Water Help You Lose Weight. It has absolutely no calories and should form the basis of any Proper Diet Plan. Read more about it on our website. Rich Carroll is a writer and health enthusiast living in London.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_Carroll

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