Calculating daily calories: it often seems more complicated than an equation in high school math class. You read everything and the opposite of everything, but what news should you listen to?
To calculate your daily calorie intake you don’t need a degree, just follow our article for simple instructions.
First you need to understand the difference between calorie needs and basal metabolism. Basal metabolic rate is the total calories you need to stay alive without doing anything: breathing, circulating blood…
All those automatic processes that allow your body to stay alive.
The calorie requirement is the total number of calories you need to carry out all your daily activities. So it includes both the baseline and the calories needed throughout the day.
When you need to lose weight you will have to remove calories (usually around 20%) from your calorie needs without ever going below your basal metabolic rate.
Daily calories
The daily caloric requirement , known by the acronym FCG, represents the total daily calories needed by a person to cope with basal metabolic functions (also called basal metabolism ) and physical activities. Basically it consists of the daily calorie intake that allows you to carry out all your daily activities.
The body’s caloric needs indicate the calories needed to carry out daily activities, without gaining weight or losing weight. Obviously, if the daily calories you consume are too many compared to your real needs, you will tend to gain weight. However, if the calories you consume are lower than your daily calorie needs, you will tend to lose weight. No healthy and effective diet can be set without first calculating the calorie needs to be consumed.
Daily calorie calculation
To calculate your calorie requirement, i.e. the calories you need, you must first know your calorie consumption, i.e. how many calories you consume each day. Daily calorie consumption depends on many factors. The main ones are:
- Basal metabolism: that is, the energy spent on basic functions such as breathing and blood circulation
- The energy spent on daily physical activities: such as working, cleaning the house, taking care of yourself or doing workouts
- The energy spent to digest and absorb food: Also called diet-induced thermogenesis (TDI). This is a factor that has a minimal impact and is often not taken into consideration when calculating calories.
All these factors indicate your more or less sedentary lifestyle.
Calculating calories cut to lose weight?
What should be the daily calorie intake to lose weight? To lose weight in a healthy and lasting way, you don’t need to do too restrictive diets but follow a healthy diet that has an adequate intake of daily calories and a good distribution of macronutrients. If you want to know how many calories to cut to lose weight, follow the test which will also let you choose between slow, moderate or fast weight loss. You won’t have to do complicated calculations, THE TEST CALCULATES YOUR METABOLISM will do everything .
If you don’t know what your ideal weight is and whether or how much you need to lose weight, take our CALCULATE YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT test.
Macronutrient calculator
A macronutrient calculator allows you to plan a correct diet that provides a balanced distribution of all nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats . The majority of daily calories are represented by carbohydrates (50%), followed by proteins (20%) and fats (25%). Don’t forget the importance of fiber which should be taken with every meal.
Calculate here HOW MUCH AND WHAT TO EAT
