Calorie Calculator - Daily Calorie Needs

DAILY CALORIC INTAKE CALCULATOR
Age	Years
Gender	Female Male
Current Weight	Pounds Kilos
Height	Feet & Inches CMs Ft   In CM
Exercise level[?]Exercise = 20 mins elevated heart rate. Intense = 1 hour elevated heart rate	Basal Metabolic Rate Little/no exercise 3 times/week 4 times/week 5 times/week 5 times/week (*intense) Every day Every day (*intense) or twice daily Daily exercise + physical job
Advanced OptionsChoose different formulas, and output results in Kilojoules or Calories
Results in  Calories    Kilojoules Formula [?]Interested in how these formulas work? Click for a complete explanation. Mifflin-St Jeor Katch-McCardle:  Enter Body Fat %Open our body fat calculator in a new window Harris-Benedict
Total Calories Including Exercise Maintenance This amount of daily calories will prevent any weight gain. ?CALORIES/DAY This Calorie amount will cause steady weight loss. Click for a straight-forward no-nonsense guide.Fat Loss ?CALORIES/DAY Extreme Fat LossThe lowest amount of Calories you should consume. Learn more about the benefits and pitfalls of fast weight loss. ?CALORIES/DAY 7 day calorie cycle (zig-zag)Calorie cycling provides same amount of calories per week, but 'tricks' your body by constantly changing daily calories. This helps to prevent or break plateaus.   Maintenance Fat Loss Extreme Fat Loss Monday       Tuesday       Wednesday       Thursday       Friday       Saturday       Sunday       Print Now what? Read the rest of this page: It's really helpful. See meal plans for 1100 calories, 1200, 1350, 1400, 1500. (More plans here). See what low calorie meals look like. Experts: Tweak carb/fat/protein with our nutrient calculator.

How Many Calories Should I Eat?

One-size-fits-all calorie recommendations do not work. They must be customized to each individual.

To accurately determine your daily calorie amount: Enter your current weight, age, height, and gender into the calculator. Do you best estimate of how much exercise you will be doing.

The results will show how many calories you may eat in order to maintain or lose weight. You don't need to adjust this depending on your exercise rate - that is factored into the equation.

As you lose weight you will need to recalculate based on your new weight.

Calories for Fat Loss

Science tells us that 1 pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, so a daily calorie deficit of 500 should result in 1 pound per week fat loss.

In reality things don't quite work that efficiently!

Generally, a person's energy expenditure becomes less as they get lighter - meaning that you will inevitably plateau. The amount of food intake that once resulted in weight loss, will now only maintain².

Warning!

"I lost a total of 65+ pounds using your website's calorie calculator"

- Our simple web-based calculator actually works. We know because lots of people tell us.

Always try to aim for the "Fat Loss" daily calorie level. The "Extreme Fat Loss" level is effectively a rock bottom calorie level. Do not attempt to immediately drop your calories to this level hoping for the quick fix - this may ultimately backfire.

The Extreme Fat Loss level is listed to show the lowest calorie amount that could be considered. It should be seen as the exception rather than the rule.

It truly is better to burn the fat than to starve it.

The Weight Loss Plateau

Over time our bodies adapt to the lowered calorie level. Our body becomes more efficient at using energy (lowered metabolism), and therefore burns less fat.

This is why most of us reach a weight loss plateau. At this point, the only option is to boost metabolism:

• increased cardio,
• weight training,
• 'cheat' meals (i.e. occasional high-calorie meals),
• cycling (or zig-zagging) calories,
• even manipulating macro-nutrient ratios can all help to do this (don't forget adequate sleep and hydration).

You often find that the nearer you get to your goal weight (or body fat percentage) - the harder things get!

Continually dropping calories only serves to lower metabolism even further - the moment you return to 'normal' eating - the weight comes back on.

Minimum Daily Calorie intake

It is difficult to set absolute bottom calorie levels, because everyone has different body composition and activity levels.

Health authorities do set some baselines - these are 1200 calories per day for women, and 1800 calories per day for men. This doesn't really make too much sense - are you are sedentary person with little muscle mass? Or someone who is tall, muscular, and exercises a lot? Absolute levels don't work - but do give us a starting point.

When reducing calories:

Try not to lower your calorie intake by more than 1000 calories below maintenance. Doing so may invoke the bodies starvation response, which can lead to the Yo-yo dieting effect.

Try to gradually lower calories. A sudden drop (such as 500 calories or more) can cause your metabolism to slow. Learn to eat slowly - research shows that faster eaters are heavier people¹.

What happens when calories are too low?

1) Muscle mass is broken down for energy (catabolism).
2) Metabolic rate will begin to drop (typically) after 3 days of very low calories - this is related to, and compounded by the loss of muscle mass.
3) With very low calories you risk sluggishness, nutritional deficiencies, fatigue, and often irritability. You are completely set-up for a regain in fat if you suddenly return to your previous eating patterns.

Lose Fat AND Build Muscle?

Most people lose muscle mass when restricting calories. It takes great effort to maintain muscle tone - and it is even more tricky actually building muscle while losing fat.

There are 2 great resources for this.

• POPULAR It's worth reading Tom Venuto's Burn the fat, feed the muscle (BFFM) for valuable insight on how to maintain muscle while maximizing fat loss. This book / manual is the biggest selling on-line book over the last 8 years.
• POPULAR Old School New Body from Steve Holman is a new program that focuses on shorter workouts (maximum 90 minutes per week), while losing fat and building muscle. Age is no excuse here as the author is ripped and in his 50s.

How to Zig Zag Calories?

As mentioned above, tricking the body by varying calorie intake can be helpful - particularly for those that have hit a plateau. Jon Benson's Every Other Day Diet is worth a look: rather than eating "diet food", he changes nothing but varies the amount he eats.

Carb Cycling
To extend the concept of calorie cycling even further, carbohydrate cycling is an option especially for those who have HIT A PLATEAU. This involves manipulating your daily intake of carbohydrates in order to maximize fat loss, and it helps to keep you in the right 'headspace' when you have 1-2 days of restricted Calories. Tom Venuto's article on Carb cycling is an excellent guide to start looking at.

References

This calculator has been developed using the most accurate methodologies from peer-reviewed research. Please see the Calorie Needs Guide for a complete explanation + citations.

[1] Faster Self-Reported Speed of Eating Is Related to Higher Body Mass Index in a Nationwide Survey of Middle-Aged Women Sook Ling Leong, Clara Madden, Andrew Gray, Debra Waters, Caroline Horwath Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1 August 2011 (volume 111 issue 8 Pages 1192-1197 DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2011.05.012)

[2] Modeling weight-loss maintenance to help prevent body weight regain. Kevin D Hall and Peter N Jordan , American Journal of Clinical Nutrition December 2008 (Vol. 88, No. 6, 1495-1503doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.26333)

Last Update 7 Mar 2013