Calories Needed Daily (CND) Calculator
How many calories do I need each day?
Good question! To calculate that we need to determine three things: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), physical activity, and the thermic effect of food. These three factors are explained below. Review the methodology and then use the calculator to figure out the number of calories that YOU need each day. And be honest about it!
Factor One. The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories you need to properly function when you are at rest. This is the amount of energy required to keep your basic functions working such as heart beating, brain transmitting, skin sweating, kidneys processing, lungs inhaling and exhaling, and body temperature regulating. About 60%-70% of the calories you burn in one day are used for these purposes.
The Harris-Benedict formula is one of the most accurate methods for estimating your BMR. Here are the formulas (note, these numbers are rounded):
- For an adult male: 66 + (6.3 * body weight in pounds) + (12.9 * height in inches) – (6.8 * age in years).
- For an adult female: 655 + (4.3 * weight in pounds) + (4.7 * height in inches) – (4.7 * age in years). Don’t ask me why the first number is 655 but it is.
Factor Two. The next highest number of your calories is consumed by physical activity. That includes every movement you make all day from getting up in the morning, to walking in the afternoon, to getting undressed and ready for bed at night. The number of calories burned for any of these activities depends on how much you weigh. To keep it simple use the following based on total activities for the day:
- Activity Level 1 – Sedentary (slug like, on the couch all the time) = BMR * .2
- Activity Level 2 - Light Activity Level (light exercise 1-3 days per week) = BMR * .375
- Activity Level 3 – Moderate Activity Level (moderate exercise 3-5 days per week) = BMR * .55
- Activity Level 4 – High Activity Level (hard exercise 6-7 days per week) = BMR * .725
- Activity Level 5 – Extreme Activity Level (workout fanatic!) = BMR * .9
The above percentages will vary based on whose activity list you happen to read. I have seen these particular percentages used in a variety of places.
Factor Three. The last number we need is the thermic effect of food, which is the amount of energy your body uses in order to digest all the food that you eat. This accounts for about 10% of the number of calories that you eat in a day. We can get this number by adding together Factors Two and Three and then taking 10 percent of that number.
Now use the calculator to determine your current daily caloric needs.
You can also use the calculator for what-if type scenarios. For example, if you want to know how many calories to eat per day based on your current activity level, to lose 20 pounds, just enter that new weight in the calculator and you will get the number of calories to consume per day in order to MAINTAIN that new weight.
Remember, you must burn 3,500 calories (kcals) in order to lose one pound. To lose 20 pounds that would be 70,000 calories. So if the difference between maintaining your current weight and your new weight is 200 calories per day, then it will take you almost a year to lose that 20 pounds (if you actually lower your calorie intake by 200 a day).
The other part of this whole calorie thing is to determine how many calories you are actually consuming every day. That might be a lot different than the number you just calculated for the amount of calories you need TODAY, based on your current numbers. This is all fully explained in your Stomping Diabetes eBook. So refer to that for more details.
