How Many Calories Should I Consume To Lose Weight?
HOW MANY CALORIES CAN I EAT A DAY? HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD I CONSUME TO LOSE WEIGHT?
If you want to learn how many calories you should consume in a day, knowing roughly how many calories your body spends every day is a vital part of learning how to rightly fuel your body, and how to lose, gain, or maintain weight.
When someone gives you a fixed number of calories to consume per day without entirely monitoring your every activity, around the clock – there’s a high chance that they aren’t aware of what they’re talking about. Not only is everyone different, but every single day for every single person is also different. Imagine the difference between a lazy day lying on your couch and one where your day is too hectic with running errands to compensate for a good workout session. The number of calories that you burn per day may easily vary by 1,000 calories or more.
A vital part of knowing about the number of calories to eat has much to do with learning about your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories used by your body to do absolutely nothing, besides running itself – it is the number of calories your body burns each day even when you don’t move a muscle. It is the energy needed for your body to complete all of its complex and the very basic bodily functions that keep you alive and breathing.
There are many different BMR calculators online that will do this work for you, but here’s the general equation in both standard & metric forms:
STANDARD/IMPERIAL BMR FORMULA
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 )
METRIC BMR FORMULA
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) – ( 6.8 x age in years )
Since this is the least for bodily functions to run smoothly, you are definitely going to need many more calories than this while discussing of all the normal daily activities that you do – things like simply feeding yourself, cleaning the house, or walking around at work. It’s easy to know that the number of calories you need to fuel yourself can quickly climb, especially when you are doing some kind of intense physical activity, or when you have a physically demanding job.
HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD I CONSUME TO LOSE WEIGHT?
Just as there’s no particular answer for how many calories you might need to consume to maintain, the number of calories you may need to consume to lose weight, is also going to vary. We advise consuming 500 calories less than what you burn in a day if you are trying to shed some weight – but you should never consume less than 1200 calories. This deficit rate can also be achieved by burning 250 extra calories with the help of exercise and eating 250 less calories, and it will lead to a weight loss of 1 lb a week.
There are several different methods to plan out your daily caloric expenditure (BMR calculators, daily calorie burn estimation calculators, relatively accurate calorie counting mechanisms that you wear, etc.) and while it is beneficial in the beginning to know what those figures are, we also suggest taking a more organic approach. Learn to listen to your own body and not much to others. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full. Be active, and do cardio and strength training regularly. Look for changes in your body and only make exercise and nutritional alterations when important, however, try not to obsess about calories consumed, and burned. After all, it makes for weight loss and bodily changes that are way easier to sustain, and it allows you to keep a healthy mindset regarding food as well as working out.
