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How many calories should I eat each day?

In Eating tipsTags , , Francis L.

So you want to lose weight, get a healthy lifestyle and maintain it for the rest of your life! Good for you. But how many calories should you eat each day?  And how do you calculate your daily calorie target? And how do you know what those calories look like?  In this blog we outline how to work out your target daily calories.

About that last question: with Weightless10, you get pictures of food portions based on your daily calorie targets – so that you can keep eating whatever you want but manage your daily calories better.  Easy.  So all you need to do is work out what your daily calorie target is?!

A quick into

Your weight loss, weight maintenance or weight gain is largely down to a matter of calories in versus calories out.  Calories are the amount of energy released when your body breaks down food.  So if you are eating more calories than your body burns each day then the excess calories are stored as fat (energy in is greater than energy out).  Conversely, a calorie deficit (energy out is greater than energy in) will cause the stored fat to be burned for energy resulting in weight loss.

Time for the math.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of calories you need to sustain all of your bodies functions while at rest.

  • For Women’s RMR: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age – 161
  • For Men’s RMR: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age + 5

Adding in your activity levels

Once you know your RMR you need to multiply it by a factor that best reflects your activity level:

  • For sedentary lifestyles (little or no exercise): 1.2 x
  • For lightly active lifestyles (exercise 1 – 3 times per week): 1.375 x
  • For moderately active lifestyles (exercise 3 – 5 times per week): 1.55 x
  • For active lifestyles (exercise 6-7 times per week): 1.725 x
  • For the professional out there (those with sports or physical jobs): 1.9 x

Now for your daily calorie target

Now that you know how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight, you can subtract, add or do nothing to calculate  your daily calorie target.

  • To lose 0.5 to 1.5 lbs per week, eat 250 – 750 less calories than your daily burn.
  • To gain weight, consumer 500 – 1000 more calories then you expend daily.
  • And to maintain your weight, well you have your daily calorie target!

Thanks for reading.  (And any problems, just get in contact )

About the author: Francis used to be frustrated with the lack of any good App's to help her learn to eat better - until she found Weightless10. She liked the App so much she joined the team in 2018! She studied food and nutrition, is an amateur cooking enthusiast and loves taking her dog for long hikes.

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