When you are looking to understand how many calories you need on a daily basis you must first start with your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. The formula I’m showing you today is called the Harris-Benedict principle.

BMR is the amount of energy the body needs to function. About 60% of the calories we take in are for basic bodily functions, such as breathing and other organ function. Other things that are considered when calculating your BMR are height, weight, age and sex. (in other words, what works for your friend may not be right for you.)

Women:
655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)= BMR

Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)= BMR

NOTE: this formula is for adults only.

If you are sedentary: BMR x 20 percent

If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent

If you are moderately active (You exercise most days of the week.): BMR x 40 percent

If you are very active (You exercise intensely daily or for prolonged periods): BMR x 50 percent

If you are extremely active (You do hard labor daily (non-stop) or are in athletic raining): BMR x 60 percent

Now you have the number of calories you can eat to maintain your current weight. Obviously, if you want to lose weight you will need to become more active or reduce your calories per day.

As you lose weight, you will also need to re-calculate the formula to get your new BMR and adjust calories and activities accordingly.

A healthy rate of weight loss is about 1-2 pounds a week. Some weeks you will have more and some less but what I find is that people who are losing more than 8 lbs a month (or 2 lbs consistently every week) are doing something extreme to cause this loss and it won’t be permanent. Remember, dieting is not something you should be doing. You should never be depriving your self of good healthy food and nutrition. You need to be focusing on lifestyle change. If you do it right and stay consistent the weight WILL come off.

So how many calories do you need to cut in order to lose weight? Well, there is a lot of talk on this subject and your individual health and conditions will come into play here but a good rule of thumb is to slowly cut back 300 calories a day. Working your way up to 500 calories per day.

Reason I say 500 is because research shows that to lose one pound in a week you need to burn off or cut back 3500 calories. So, burn off an extra 500 and you lose approximately 1 pound…300 it’s going to take you more like 11-12 days.

You can easily cut back 300-500 calories by eliminating alcohol, soda, cheese, whole milk products, butter, junk foods, etc. And you can easily burn off 300-500 by walking for 20-30 minutes each day, taking an exercise class a few times a week or even having sex more often! LOL

I think you get my point. By calculating your BMR, adding up how many calories you are currently taking in and burning off, coming up with a way to reduce your caloric intake or expenditure…BABY…you’re gonna big a BIG LOSER before you know it.

My biggest advice…STAY CONSISTENT! You can’t just do this healthy deal one day here and there. Your body needs to see commitment and consistency in order for it to respond to what you are doing.

Whatever you decide…just take action! Even if it’s small steps…it’s a step in the right direction.