Are you planning to lose weight soon? Our calorie requirement calculator allows you to quickly determine your specific calorie requirements, as well as the proportion of calories you can safely reduce in your diet without putting your health at risk. Scroll down even further: Many beneficial recommendations on the subject of calories and body weight.
Caloric requirements for weight loss: what you need to know
Understanding the discrepancy between calorie intake and calorie consumption is essential for effective weight loss. If you consume more calories than you expend, you will gain weight, according to a simple physical rule.
For example, if you consume 250 more calories per day than you expend, you will gain 3.5 kilograms after 100 days. On the other hand, if you consume more calories than your body needs, the extra calories are drawn from your fat stores. This is often the guiding principle of all diet strategies.
However, it is not just overall caloric intake that matters when trying to lose weight.
But how much energy do you need to burn a kilogram of fat?
Fat has a caloric value of 9.3 kilocalories per gram. In terms of calories, this amounts to 9300 kcal per kilogram of fat. Burning them would result in a weight reduction of one kilogram. But things are not as simple as they seem. A kilogram of body fat is rarely just fat. It also contains water and protein.
To lose 1 kg, a more accurate estimate would be 7700 kcal.
By restricting calories, it would take two weeks to lose one kilo, assuming a daily caloric deficit of 500. In reality, things are not nearly as clear-cut. With fat loss comes muscle loss. As a result, the resting metabolic rate is reduced. It is therefore important to monitor caloric intake and maintain or increase basal metabolic rate through regular exercise to reduce weight over the long term.
It is not enough to avoid meals high in sugar and fat. The diet should be high in fiber, include lots of fresh fruit, salads and vegetables, and contain plenty of protein. Many people have been able to lose weight by significantly reducing their carbohydrate intake.
What good are calories when all is said and done?
Our contemporary term “calorie” is derived from the Latin word “calor,” which here refers to “heat,” the amount of energy needed by a living thing to perform its basic functions.
This energy is created when food is broken down into useful fuel. The energy required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius is equivalent to one calorie, according to science.
Athletes and other physically active people need more calories than others who like to rest and watch television.
The “calorie requirement” has proven difficult to define.
Calories almost always play an important role in weight reduction.
However, the recommended daily caloric intake for weight reduction or maintenance is not well known.
There is no fixed minimum caloric requirement that applies to everyone. Age, height, and gender all affect recommended caloric intake.
Regular sport, physical activity, or work environment can also help. A construction worker, after all, needs much more endurance than an office worker. But the resting metabolic rate is much higher than the moving metabolic rate.
The metabolic rate of the body at rest requires 70% of the total amount consumed. In the world of medicine, BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) means “basic metabolic rate”. The BMR is responsible for keeping the body functioning properly. It includes activities such as breathing, heart rate and organ supply.
But many people eat far more calories than they need, which eventually leads to being overweight. Others drastically reduce their caloric intake in an effort to lose weight, causing their bodies to slip into a starvation metabolism.
If you know how many calories you need each day, you can take precautions to avoid gaining weight or regaining it after you lose it. For some people who are underweight, the process of gaining weight can be harmful. They also need to be aware of their calorie needs.
How many calories should a typical individual consume each day?
Various techniques can be used to calculate BMR. Each of them provides only an approximation of the actual BMR. It is essential to take into account variables such as age, weight, exercise habits and career. In its simplest form, the equation is as follows:
Multiplying a man’s body weight by 24 gives his BMR.
The BMR for women is determined as follows: BMR = 0.9 * 24 times body weight.
The number 24 is included in the equation because a person’s basal metabolic rate is thought to be 24 kilocalories per day for each kilogram of body mass.
Maximum metabolic rate
The question of what the actual effective total metabolic rate is is another fascinating topic. Because it takes into account the energy required during exercise and other physical activities, the “performance metabolic rate”-which differs from the “resting metabolic rate”-is what individuals refer to when they talk about themselves. The average daily metabolic rate for a man in his 30s is about 2400 kcal. You acquire 110 calories for every hour spent at work. If you stand for the full eight hours, this amounts to 880 kcal. A man can play tennis after a hard day at the office and burn another 440 calories. This is the amount of energy used by playing tennis for one hour. Therefore, a total of 3,720 calories were burned. You can calculate your total metabolic efficiency using the calculation below:
The baseline metabolic rate plus the exercise metabolic rate equals the total effective metabolic rate.
Sports activity and caloric intake
Finding one’s effective metabolic rate at work is a simple process that does not require sifting through tables of caloric intake and physical demands associated with one’s job. To obtain accurate results, the Physical Activity Level (PAL) was developed in several groups.
- You should have a PAL between 1.4 and 1.5 if you work in an office environment.
- Working on foot or standing: PAL 1.8-1.9
- Physical work intensity ranged from PAL 2.0 to 2.4.
Total effective metabolic rate is obtained by multiplying BMR by the PAL factor and can then be translated into power metabolic rate. We include athletics when appropriate. Regular exercise increases demand compared to not exercising at all. Athletics remain attractive. because frequent activity increases muscle mass, which increases the body’s resting metabolic rate. As a result, athletes have a higher resting metabolic rate.
Daily caloric requirement for men.
Depending on his age, a man weighing 80 kilograms has a basal metabolic rate of 2,200 to 2,500 kcal per day. His effective total metabolic rate may be over 3,000 if he works in an office, and with regular exercise it can quickly reach 3,500 or more.
With age, the basal metabolic rate is lower due to a slight slowing of the metabolism. Men burn more calories than women when at rest.
This is due to structural differences between male and female bodies. Men generally have more muscle mass and a lower percentage of body fat. It is well known that fat storage requires much less energy than muscle exercise.
Male skeletal muscle has beta receptors, which contribute to the increased efficiency of the body’s natural energy production system. This suggests that men are generally more successful with weight reduction diets.
How many calories should a woman consume per day?
As with men, women’s caloric needs decrease with age. Most women are aware of this because, after menopause, they have difficulty maintaining their pre-menopausal weight or experience rapid weight gain.
For comparison, a man of childbearing age needs about 1700 kilocalories per day just to maintain his weight, compared to about 2000 calories per day for women. In this case, things other than the sport itself have an impact on a person’s caloric needs. In half an hour, you can burn 200 to 400 calories.
It’s important to have some, especially if you work in an office, if you want to maintain or reduce your weight. Because of the higher blood levels of estrogen in women than in men, as well as synthetic hormones such as those in the birth control pill, women tend to gain weight faster than men.
The female body has evolved to store fat for future use, to be ready for pregnancy. A woman’s basal metabolic rate typically increases by 500 kcal per day during pregnancy and up to 800 kcal per day during lactation.
Women who lift weights benefit the most because they naturally have less muscle mass than men. This increases the overall metabolic rate, and the “after effect” of exercise continues to help people lose weight.
Conclusion
Caloric intake is calculated mathematically. It is essential to be aware of this, but compulsive calorie counting can take away some of life’s pleasures. You can maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating well, exercising and tracking your daily calorie intake.
Activity Level and Heart Rate
The most effective moderator of caloric intake is physical activity. But the level of competition is just as essential as the sport itself. The number of calories burned is highly dependent on heart rate. Therefore, a good heart rate combined with advice such as “you should take 10,000 steps a day” can have a significant effect.