What Determines A Person's Caloric Intake?

The number of calories consumed each day determines your total daily caloric intake. The "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010" provides an estimate of daily caloric requirements based upon age, gender and activity level. Eating a healthy diet and not exceeding your calorie limit safeguards health and weight. The "Dietary Guidelines" recommend that daily food consumption, without the addition of dietary supplements, fulfill the nutritional needs of healthy children and adults.

Food Preferences and Caloric Intake

Different cultures, customs and food preferences determine caloric intake by influencing the composition of meals and the types of foods consumed. Habitual dietary patterns that include high-fat, calorie-dense foods typically exceed daily caloric requirements and can contribute to weight gain and health problems. One way to reduce caloric intake to healthier levels without making radical changes in food preferences is to choose foods low in saturated fats, avoid trans fats and trim visible fats. For meal preparation, Melinda Smith, M.A., recommends healthier polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil or canola oil, instead of coconut oil and palm oil, which contain saturated fats.

Caloric Requirements for Adult Males and Females

Muscle is metabolically active tissue, which makes it an excellent calorie burner. The male body has a higher percentage of lean muscle mass vs. fat than the female body does. To maintain body weight, fuel basic bodily functions and supply the energy needed for routine daily activities, males require a higher caloric intake than females. Exercise, especially strength training, helps to increase lean muscle tissue, calorie and fat burning in females and males alike, according to MayoClinic.com. Without decreasing caloric intake, an increase in lean muscle mass contributes to weight loss.

Levels of Activity Affecting Caloric Intake

The three levels of activity that affect caloric intake are sedentary, moderately active and active. A sedentary person is one whose activities include only those necessary for daily functioning. Sedentary individuals require a lower daily caloric intake than those who participate in a higher activity level.
If you perform a minimal amount of physical activities, in addition to those required by your daily routine, you are considered moderately active. The "Dietary Guidelines" describe moderate activity as walking 1.5 to 3 miles a day at approximately 3 to 4 miles per hour.
In addition to routine daily activities, the physical activity level of an active person exceeds the amount of exercise indicated for a moderately active person.

Portion Size

Nutrition fact labels take the guesswork out of totaling calories for most of the foods you consume. If nutrition labels are not available, do not use this as an excuse to overeat; knowledge of portion sizes can provide a close estimate of calories. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a medium apple is about the size of a baseball; a 1/2-cup serving of vegetables is approximately the size of the bulb on a light bulb; a 3-oz. serving of meat, chicken or fish equals the size of the palm of a women’s hand or a deck of cards.
The USDA National Nutrient Database lists the caloric content of a medium apple as 95; a medium orange contains approximately 63 calories; a 1/2-cup serving of cooked broccoli has about 27 calories; a 1/2-cup serving of cooked yellow sweet corn contains approximately 72 calories; a small, 100-g baked potato contains about 198 calories.
Fat content determines the calories in meat, according to MayoClinic.com. One serving of lean meat with up to 3 g of fat has 45 calories; medium-fat meat with up to 7 g of fat provides 75 calories per serving; and one serving of high-fat meat containing 8 or more grams of fat equals 100 calories.