Before you begin counting calories, you should figure out your daily caloric needs, to determine how much you should eat every day to properly fuel your body. The Harris-Benedict equation is a two-step process that compares your gender, height, weight and age with your weekly exercise.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal metabolic rate is the rate at which your body calories uses calories while at rest to perform simple body functions. By inputting your age, gender, height and weight into an online calculator, such as the one at the BMI Calculator website, you can find your BMR, which you will need to determine your daily caloric need.
Activity Level
The final step in calculating your daily caloric needs is to determine your activity level within the following paragraph: I never exercise: 1.2. I exercise one to three days per week: 1.375. I exercise four to five days per week: 1.55. I exercise six to seven days per week: 1.725. Now simply multiply your basal metabolic rate by the number that best describes the amount of physical activity you get every week.
Doing the Math
In this example, Alicia is 22 years old, 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 105 lbs, giving her a BMR of 1,313. She is a heavy exerciser, but would like to maintain her current weight. Knowing this, we multiply her BMR by 1.725 to find that she needs 2,297 calories per day to stick with her weight.
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