Your body requires a certain number of calories. This number is different than what your spouse, friend or sibling requires. The difference is largely due to the specific factors that dictate your caloric need, including your gender, age, height, weight and level of activity. Knowing the number of calories you can eat in a day helps you not only maintain your current weight but also lose weight if you're carrying excess pounds.
Men
Step 1
Establish your base metabolic rate. As a man, you can determine your base metabolic rate by taking your height in inches, your weight in pounds and your age in years, and plugging these values into the equation: 66 + (6.23 x weight) + (12.7 x height) - (6.8 x age).
Step 2
Factor in your level of activity. Your level of physical exertion also plays a significant role in how many calories you can eat in a day. Determine whether your level of activity is sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active or extremely active.
Step 3
Multiply your base metabolic rate by your level of activity. Sedentary lifestyle is valued at 1.2, lightly active is valued at 1.375, moderately active is valued at 1.55, very active is valued at 1.725 and extremely active is valued at 1.9. This should tell you how many calories you can eat in a day.
Women
Step 1
Establish your base metabolic rate. As a woman, you can determine your base metabolic rate by taking your height in inches, your weight in pounds and your age in years, and plugging these values into the equation. However, the equation for women looks different: 655 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) - (4.7 x age).
Step 2
Factor in your level of activity. As it does for a man, your level of physical activity plays a vital role in how many calories you can eat in a day. Sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active or extremely active are the options for women as well.
Step 3
Multiply your base metabolic rate by your level of activity. Sedentary lifestyle is still valued at 1.2, lightly active at 1.375, moderately active at 1.55, very active at 1.725 and extremely active at 1.9. This should tell you how many calories you can eat in a day.
Tips and Warnings
- Sedentary activity level is characterized as little to no exercise. Lightly active is one to three periods of exercise in a week. Moderately active sees an increase in activity to three to five periods of exercise a week. Very active is anyone who exercises six to seven times a week. Extremely active is more than seven periods of exercise in a week. It may also be identified as a physically demanding job coupled with periodic exercise throughout the week. Exercise is typically defined as 30 to 60 minutes per session.
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