Your body uses the food you consume for energy and to sustain you throughout the day. The energy from food drives functions as simple as breathing, to those as complex as running a marathon. To ensure your body is functioning at its optimum level, it's important to know how many calories you require each day.
What Are Calories?
Calories are units of heat that are required to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water to 1 degree Celsius. Calories are found in food. You need to consume a certain number of calories each day so they can be burned by your body as energy.
Daily Calorie Recommendations
The amount of calories needed each day varies from person to person. The number of calories you eat should align with your body's metabolic needs. The Mayo Clinic suggests that if you take in too many calories, your body will store them as fat. If you do not take in enough calories your body will convert them to lean muscle for energy. The less lean muscle you have, the slower your metabolism and the fewer calories you burn while resting. The American Dietetic Association recommends that women consume an average of 1,500 calories per day to maintain their current weight and no fewer than 1,200 calories per day to lose weight. Men should consume an average of 2,000 calories per day to maintain their current weight and no fewer than 1,400 calories per day to lose weight. For health reasons, the Mayo Clinic says you should not allow your daily calorie intake to fall below 1,200 per day for any reason. Doing so can impair your weight-loss efforts and actually slow your metabolism.
Amount of Calories in Food
Calories are found in food, but not all foods are created equal, nor do they contain the same amount of calories per serving. The American Dietetic Association says there are 9 calories per one gram of fat, 4 calories per one gram of carbohydrates and 7 calories per one gram of alcohol.
Losing and Gaining Weight
One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. For every pound of fat you want to lose, you will need to burn 3,500 calories. To lose a pound of fat a week, you would need to burn 500 calories a day. The Mayo Clinic suggests you can safely lose 2 pounds per week by eliminating 1,000 calories a week from your diet. If you wish to gain weight, you would need to increase your intake by 500 calories a day to gain a pound each week.
Calculating Daily Caloric Needs
Height, weight, age, gender and current activity level are needed to determine your daily caloric needs. Formulas can be used to determine the amount of calories you need each day. The first formula is measured in imperial units, while the second is in metric units. Both formulas will yield the same results. Adult women: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) -- (4.7 x age in years), or 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) -- (4.7 x age in years). Adult men: 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) -- (6.8 x age in years), or 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5.0 x height in cm) -- (6.8 x age in years).
References
- "American Dietetic Association: Complete Food & Nutrition Guide"; Roberta Larson Duyff, MS, RD, FADA, CFCS; 2006
- "Mayo Clinic Fitness for Everybody"; Diane Dahm; 2005
Member Comments