Calculate your Daily Calorie Intake

Your recommended calorie intake depends on your size and level of exercise or activity that you do.  A larger person needs more calories than a smaller person; an active person needs more calories than a sedentary person and so on.

STEP 1:
To calculate your suggested daily calorie intake to maintain your current weight, you first need to establish your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is the minimum amount of energy required when resting.  To calculate this:

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 years )

EXAMPLE:  if you are a 5ft 3in (64 inch tall) 30 year old female weighing 10 stone (140 lbs), your BMR is:  1424 calories.

STEP 2: The BMR then has to be multiplied by an activity factor to approximate your daily calorie requirements.

Firstly, determine how many calories you burn every day through activity.  This amount is roughly 20 % of your BMR if you are sedentary (see below for descriptions) 30 % of your BMR if you are lightly active, 40 % of your BMR if you are moderately active and 50 percent of your BMR if you are very active.

“Sedentary” you don’t exercise at all

“Lightly active” you engage in light exercise or sport 1-3 days a week

“Moderately active” you exercise hard at least half an hour a day, five days a week

“Very active” you engage in fairly strenuous exercise or sport 6-7 days a week

EXAMPLE:  if your BMR is 1,424 and you are sedentary, you burn approximately 285 calories per day through activity.

STEP 3: Add your BMR to the number of calories you burn each day through activity to determine your calorific needs to maintain your current weight.

EXAMPLE:  if your BMR is 1,424, and you burn approximately 285 calories per day through activity, you need to eat about 1709 calories per day to maintain your weight at your current activity level.