If you are trying to gain or lose weight, you must calculate the number of calories your body burns each day. Without this information, you will not know whether you are in a caloric deficit or a surplus. Fortunately, there are websites that will do the math for you. If you prefer to figure out your daily caloric expenditure by hand, you can use the Mifflin-St. Jeor equations from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to come up with an estimate based on your height, weight, gender and age.
Step 1
Use an accurate bathroom scale to get your current weight and a tape measure to find your height. Convert these measurements into metrics, if necessary. Multiply your weight in pounds by 2.2 to find the number of kilograms. Multiply your height in inches by 2.54 to find the result in centimeters.
Step 2
Multiply your height in centimeters by 6.25. Multiply your weight in kilograms by 9.99. Add these two numbers together and subtract your age times 4.92. If you are a woman, subtract 161 from the result to find your resting metabolic rate (RMR). If you are a man, add five to the result to find your RMR.
Step 3
Keep track of everything you do throughout the day, including time spent sitting still or sleeping. Visit an online source, such as the University of South Carolina School of Public Health website, to find the metabolic equivalent task (MET) value of each activity. Multiply each MET value by the number of hours spent performing the activity to find your time-adjusted MET values. Add up all of the time-adjusted MET values.
Step 4
Divide your daily RMR by 24 to find the calories burned per hour. Multiply this number by the result from Step 3 to find your total calories burned for the day.
Things You'll Need
- Pen
- Paper
- Calculator
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