The number of calories you need a day depends on your age, gender, body composition, meal frequency and activity level, according to dietitian Ellen Coleman, author of "Ultimate Sports Nutrition." The more muscles you have and the more physically active you are, the more calories you will need to consume.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal metabolic rate, or BMR, estimates how many calories you burn when you are at rest, according to Coleman. The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn when you exercise and rest. A person with 100 lbs. of muscle would burn about 1,342 calories per day, while a person with 200 lbs. of muscle burns about 2,400 calories a day without taking exercise into account. This is the minimum number of calories you need to sustain biological functions.
Physical Activity
Estimate how many calories needed per day by adding the number of calories burned during exercise with your BMR. According to exercise physiologist William McArdle, an average man burns 2 to 4.9 calories per minute during light exercise, such as walking or tai chi. During heavy exercise, such as weight training, 7.5 to 9.9 calories per minute are burned. For example, if you did heavy weight training for 60 minutes, multiply 60 by 9, which equals 540 calories. If you did 30 minutes of cycling at 10 mph, multiply 4 calories by 30, which equals 120 calories.
Pregnancy
Women typically gain about 3 to 4 lbs. a month until the day of delivery. Therefore, they need an additional 150 to 200 calories a day, according to MayoClinic.com. This equals an 8-oz. serving of low-fat yogurt or a bowl of whole-grain cereal with 6 oz. of skim milk.
References
- "Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance"; William McArdle; 2001
- "Ultimate Sports Nutrition"; Ellen Coleman; 2004
- MayoClinic.com; Pregnancy Week by Week
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