Do You Really Know How Many Calories You Need?

Most people are absolutely clueless when it comes to figuring out exactly how many calories their body needs in relation to their diets. Most are content to look at the two recommended guidelines that the FDA requires on labels as the litmus. This may work in a perfect world where everyone does the exact same things everyday and has the exact same metabolic rate but in the real world, there is simply not a cookie cutter number that is good for everyone. Here is a simple thing to help you to lose weight the right way

About a year ago, I was having a problem dropping weight. This was despite my regular diet that consisted of nothing but fruits, vegetables and protein and the fact that I was strength training and doing cardio on a regular basis. I decided that what I needed was help and consulted with a personal trainer. He wanted me to write down everything that I ate for the week and at the end of the week, we would sit down and analyze the data to find if there was a visible culprit.

Of course, I complied and at the end of the week, I sat down with my trainer. He looked it over and what he said to me completely floored me.

Lee, you aren't eating enough.....

Surprised? I was. And that is the point I am making. To truly lose weight effectively, you need to understand how much your body requires daily in calories (energy) and then make that your base point. We all know that if you eat too much, you will gain weight. However, if you eat too little, you may be cheating yourself of losing optimum weight.

So, how do you go about discovering how much your body needs? The good news is that there is a simple formula for this. By the way, it is know as the BMR or basal metabolic rate. The BMR factors in many different variables which will be different from one person to the next.

* Age
* Current Weight
* Height

How to determine your BMR:

66+(6.23 x your weight)+(12.7 x your height in inches)-(6.8 x how old you are)

Now this number is basically the amount of calories you need to just exist...existing meaning if you were to lay in bed all day and do nothing. However, I would guess that you do more than hang out in bed all day, right? So, here is where you can get a rough estimate of how many calories that you can expect to burn daily. You take your BMR number and then estimate how active you are. There is a chart for this...

* 1.0 - Sedentary (doing nothing all day)- This means that you got up from bed everyone in a while to get something to drink. Most of us wouldn't fall into this category.

* 1.2 - Very light activity If you have a day job and don't do any physical activity after work, it is likely you fall into this category.

* 1.4 - Light activity- If you have a desk job and walk after work, then this is the number you want.

* 1.6 - Moderate activity If you have a desk job and do some physical activity such as house cleaning PLUS you workout, then this number is for you.

* 1.8 - High activity- If you either have a physical job (such as construction) or you are training very hard (like working out twice daily, then you can choose this number.

* 2.0 - Extreme activity- This number is reserved for athletes mainly.

Once you have asserted what type of activity bracket you fall in, you simply multiply this number by your BMR and you will get an estimated caloric expenditure for the day.

So what does this have to with dieting?

Simple. If you are wanting to lose weight, you will simply take your total caloric expenditure for the day and drop 500 calories from your diet. By doing so, you will easily lose a pound and half a week which is a great number to lose weight and keep it off. Happy Dieting!

About the Author

Lee Carter has spent 6 years battling his weight by choosing one fad diet after another. While he was able to lose weight, he found the weight creeping back on. A year ago, he found the perfect diet....a lifestyle change and has managed to drop nearly 60 pounds in the course of a year.

Find Out How to Lose the Weight and Keep it Off PERMANENTLY!