Daily calorie intake is a complex topic in diet and weight loss. The amount of energy you require in a day depends on your age, sex and activity level. If you are a man, you can take in slightly more calories than a woman, because men tend to have more muscle mass. You can find guidelines that give you rough estimates of how many calories you should take in, or you can use complex formulas that take your exact statistics into account. The most important part is to follow your caloric recommendation to maintain your weight or lose weight, if that's what you need to do.
USDA Dietary Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Guidelines for Americans lists caloric recommendations, based on age. For men ages 19 to 30 who are sedentary, the recommended calorie intake is 2,400 to 2,600. For moderately active men, the recommendation is 2,600 to 2,800 calories. This activity level means walking 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour. For an active man, the recommendations is 3,000 calories. Active means walking more than 3 miles per day at a pace greater than 3 to 4 miles an hour.
Harris-Benedict Formula
The Harris-Benedict Formula is a way to calculate your basal metabolic rate, or the amount of energy used at rest, and then multiply it by an activity level coefficient to find the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. To determine your basal metabolic rate, find your weight in kilograms by dividing your weight by 2.2. Next, find your height in centimeters by converting your height to inches, and then multiply by 2.54. Use this equation: 66 + (13.7 x weight) + (5 x height) - (6.8 x age in years). This is your basal metabolic rate. Multiply it by 1.2 if you do little exercise, 1.375 if you exercise one to three days per week, 1.55 if you exercise three to five days per week, 1.725 if you exercise six to seven days per week or 1.9 if you are an elite athlete. This answer is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight.
Body-Fat Method
The body-fat method requires that you have your body fat measured by calipers to get your total-body fat percentage. Most trainers in health spas will do this for you to help you customize a training program. Once you know your body-fat percentage, you are ready to crunch some numbers. Multiply your total weight by your body-fat percentage to get your fat weight. Subtract your fat weight from your total weight to get your lean mass. Multiply your lean mass by 16 to get your minimum calorie intake per day to maintain your weight.
Simple Calorie Counting
For those who don't want to get too complex in calculating daily calorie needs, Harvard Medical School has an easy way to figure out how many calories you should get every day. Simply multiply your weight by 15 to get the number of calories you need to eat to maintain your weight. To lose weight, eat less than this amount. The recommendation is to eat 500 to 1,000 calories less than the your daily needs to lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. Exercising for 30 minutes a day will also help to create a calorie deficit.
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