How Much Calories Do I Need A Daily?

Each individual’s metabolic rate, physical activity, genetic structure and daily calorie needs are different. Variables such as weight loss and weight gain programs, pregnancy and breastfeeding or bodybuilding programs are very effective in determining calorie needs.

The body has a certain energy requirement only to meet its daily vital activities. Your body converts the food you eat into energy in order to fuel both basic and complex functions like breathing or moving. This process is called metabolism.

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. The number of calories one burns in a day without doing any activity is known as the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Simply put, the BMR is calories consumed to sustain your biological functions at rest while your RMR is calories consumed while awake but sitting doing nothing. This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive – even when you are lying down, doing nothing. BMR accounts for approximately 60% of the calories burned for an average person.

Factors Determining Daily Calorie Needs.

Energy needs vary according to many factors. It is possible to support a healthy working metabolism by adopting the right diet and a healthy lifestyle. The factors affecting the metabolic rate and calorie requirement can be listed as follows:

1- Gender

Even between the sexes, energy requirements may differ. The energy needs of men and women of the same height and weight, or even the same age, are not the same. The muscle ratio of the male body is higher than the female body. The fat ratio of the female body is also higher than that of the male body. As the muscle ratio increases and the fat ratio decreases, the metabolic rate and energy requirement increase. Muscle cells consume several times as much energy as fat cells. For this reason, while trying to increase the metabolic rate, the main goal should be to increase the amount of muscle.

2- Exercise

Daily calorie needs depend on the physical activity of individuals as well as their gender. The calorie needs of a woman who exercises regularly and includes sports in her life; It may be more than a male individual who works at a desk and does not do sports. The calorie requirement on sports days is higher than on non-exercise days. The body, which is already in motion during physical activity, needs extra energy to work the muscles and body extremities. If these exercises are done to increase the amount of muscle as much as cardio exercises, the muscles that contract more intensely with the increased amount of muscle need more energy.

3- Weight

Body weight is the most important component of the calorie calculation formula in all individuals. Every cell in the body needs calories to nourish and maintain its metabolic activities. This caloric requirement differs markedly between a 50-kilogram individual and a 90-kilogram individual.

4- Daily Nutrition

Daily calorie requirement is affected by physical factors as well as the foods consumed during the day. The human body also expends energy when breaking down and digesting food. This is called the thermic effect of food. Especially the thermic effect of proteins is high. The thermic effect of food is approximately ten percent of the calories they contain. This ratio may show slight fluctuations according to the hormonal structure of the person.

5- Age

Another factor that determines the energy requirement is the age factor. The metabolic rate is higher during development periods such as infancy, childhood, adolescence and until the first adult years. For this reason, the age factor is also taken into account when calculating calories. Until the age of thirty, the production events in the body are more than the destruction events. For this reason, while the metabolic rate is higher, this rate decreases after the age of thirty. While the production events called anabolism decrease, the destruction events called catabolism increase. This causes the metabolic rate, which is the combination of the two, to decrease.

6- Genetic Factors

If the parents are obese, the probability of the child being obese is 80 percent. If one of the parents is obese and the other is underweight, the probability of the child being obese varies between 20-50 percent. Even if both parents are underweight, the probability of the child being overweight is 10%. The metabolic rate you inherit in part from your parents determines the number of calories your body needs to function, and you can’t change it. Inherited metabolic diseases, especially those that affect your thyroid, can cause you to burn calories too quickly or too slowly.

7- Environmental Factors / Climate

The daily calorie requirement is also affected by the climate. Although environmental factors are unimportant for many people, heat and temperature factors have a significant share in the energy requirement as they enable the adaptation of the body to the environment. The body, which tries to keep itself warm in cold weather, also spends energy to warm up. Therefore, the need for calories increases. When considering the daily calorie requirement, environmental conditions are also taken into consideration.

8- Various Diseases

In some periods of illness, the body’s need for both calories and protein increases. In diseases such as burns, infections and cancer, the body needs more calories to renew itself and its tissues. Especially in advanced degree burn and cancer stages, the calorie requirement increases up to one and a half times. Daily calorie needs may also increase in situations such as trauma. In the process of breaking and repairing long bones such as legs and arms, increased metabolic rate requires extra calories to regenerate bone cells.

Endocrine disorders are also important factors affecting body structure and functioning. There is an optimized working speed of all systems and organs in the body that has achieved the ideal hormonal balance. These individuals have no difficulty in maintaining their ideal weight. However, since systems that work faster or slower than necessary also change the calorie balance, the calorie needs of people may differ. Individuals with insulin resistance have difficulty losing weight. Or an individual with slow thyroid cannot lose weight; may need synthetic hormone supplementation. An individual whose thyroid is working faster than normal may experience palpitations and the daily calorie requirement of the metabolism working faster than normal is higher.

In our previous article, we talked about calorie and energy balance. For more detailed information on calories, check out this article.

What should my daily intake of calories be?

Daily calorie requirement is the amount of calories our body needs in a day to carry out its vital activities. The USDA’s 2020 “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” report states that adult women need 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, and adult men 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day. However, this amount varies from person to person in line with the factors mentioned above.

The metabolic rate depends on many factors, and healthy living conditions have a positive effect on the working speed of the body. In order to increase the daily calorie need, it is the first rule to increase the thermic effect of foods by eating healthy. In the process of healthy eating, regular exercise and reducing the fat rate and increasing the amount of muscle also increase the calorie requirement. In order for your body and metabolism to work at the ideal speed, you should adopt a healthy lifestyle and do not neglect to consult your doctor for hormonal problems.

Daily Calorie Calculator

This calorie calculator uses your age, weight, height, gender, and activity level to estimate the number of calories you should eat per day to maintain your weight. You can adjust this number based on your goals if you’re trying to lose weight or gain .

Daily calorie calculator expresses the calorie value required to meet the average energy consumed by the body in a day. If the calories consumed and the calories burned are equal every day, the body weight can remain at constant values. When the balance of the difference between these two is disturbed – regardless of man / woman – the process of gaining or losing weight begins.

Daily Calorie Calculator for Women

From puberty, the female body tends to store fat more as a fertility requirement than to build muscle. Therefore, the equations used to calculate women’s daily calorie needs differ from men’s according to their muscle and fat holding capacity. Women need to adopt a more intense daily pace so that their daily calorie consumption is equal to that of a man of the same age, height and weight.

Daily Calorie Calculator for Men

Although muscle weight develops depending on sports activity, men have more muscle mass than women due to their anatomical structure. Since muscle volume is a determining factor in energy consumption, men’s daily calorie needs may be higher than women’s. Moreover, this situation; It remains valid even if the age, weight, height values ​​and activity intensity are the same.

How many calories do I need to gain muscle and gain weight?

The result you get from the calculation tool above shows the average energy value your body spends per day according to your goal.

To gain weight or build muscle, you need to meet the daily calorie needs in the results table and more. In addition, it is recommended that you exercise in order to build muscle mass with the nutrition program you apply to gain weight.

Example calorie increase for weight gain and muscle gain:

The daily requirement of the individual given in the example is 2458 calories. In order for this individual to increase muscle mass, he or she should increase the daily calorie amount by 300 to 500. However, this rate can be targeted between 700 to1000 calorie depending on the severity of physical activity.

How many calories do I need to lose weight?

To lose weight, you should eat according to the calorie needs in the results table and create a calorie deficit. Reducing your daily calories does not mean starving yourself. A few simple diet and lifestyle changes can help you lose weight, such as exercise to lose weight, drinking appropriate amounts of water, increasing your protein intake, and reduced carbohydrate intake.

Example calorie calculation for weight loss:

The daily requirement of the individual in the example to lose weight is 1796 calories. We do not know how many calories this individual consumes daily, but it seems that he needs an average of 1796 calories to lose weight. Assuming that this individual consumes 2500 calories per day, it is recommended to reduce the daily calorie amount by 200 to 500 and reduce it to 1750-1800 calories over time in order to lose weight in a healthy way.

Exercising is essential for a healthy life as well as creating a calorie deficit. When you support your diet with an exercise program, you can accelerate fat burning and increase your physical strength.

Also, if you’re not sure how many calories you should eat each day, don’t hesitate to reach out to a certified dietitian.

This article is for informational purposes only, and you should consult a healthcare provider before making any health decisions.