A sedentary lifestyle is defined as taking part in little or no exercise outside of normal daily activities. Determining your daily caloric needs depends on several factors as well as your level of daily exercise.
Knowing Your BMR
Calculating your daily caloric needs begins with figuring your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. Your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to sustain life. Multiply your BMR by the number assigned for your activity level, designated by the Harris Benedict Equation. This gives you the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight. A sedentary lifestyle is assigned a value of 1.2.
Example
For example, a 30-year-old woman who is 65 inches tall and weighs 130 lbs. has a BMR of 1385. Because of her sedentary lifestyle, her BMR is multiplied by the sedentary value of 1.2. For this woman to maintain her weight, she will need to take in and burn 1662 calories per day.
Warning
MayoClinic.com lists a sedentary lifestyle as a risk factor for obesity and heart disease. Despite being thought of as a man's disease, heart disease kills more women each year than men and will kill more women over age 65 than all cancers combined.
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