If you are trying to lose weight, you need to understand the relationship between food, calories, and the body. Next, you will be able to calculate how many calories you need and learn how to make the most of them to reach your ideal weight.

What is a Calorie?

A calorie is simply a unit of energy. Calories are usually associated with food, which humans need for energy to survive. Our bodies burn the calories we take in through the metabolic process, and any excess calories we put in our bodies get stored as glucose in fat tissue-thus, weight gain.

How Many Calories Do I Need Daily?

The number is different for everyone. Most nutritional value charts are based on a 2,000 calorie daily intake, which is indeed the average. However, you may need more or fewer calories, depending on certain factors:

• height
• weight,
• gender
• age
• activity level

There are three different aspects to calculating how many calories you will need per day:

Basal metabolic rate (BMR)

This number describes how much energy your body needs to function while resting. These functions include heart beating, the lungs breathing, the eyelids blinking and the body temperature stabilized. Your BMR is responsible for 60-70% of the calories you burn in a day. Men typically have a higher BMR than women. The Harris-Benedict formula is one of the best ways to determine your BMR:

• Adult Male: 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
• Adult Female: 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

Physical Activity

Burning 20-30% of your body’s total calories, physical activity consists of everything from making your bed in the morning to walking your dog. Anything that puts your body in motion will burn calories; how many you burn depends on your body weight. The Metabolic Energy Method, or MET is the most reliable way to determine how many calories your body expends during physical activity.

Thermic Effect of Food

The amount of energy your body uses to digest your food accounts for the third way your body burns calories. To calculate the amount of calories your body burns in this process, multiply your daily caloric intake by 10 percent.
Add these three figures together and you will have your daily calorie requirements.

An Easier Way

You can also skip those calculations for a simpler route of determining how many calories you need per day. You can get a rough estimate by using one of these simple formulas:

Sedentary lifestyle: Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day
Moderately active lifestyle: Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day
Active lifestyle: Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

Reaching your ideal weight healthfully

If your goal is to lose weight, eat about 500 calories fewer per day to lose a pound every week. To gain weight, eat 500 more calories every day to gain a pound every week.

Food Caloric Content

If you are trying to lose weight, it will help to know the calorie content of the foods you eat.

• 1 g carbohydrates = 4 calories
• 1 g protein = 4 calories
• 1 g fat = 9 calories.

As you can see, fatty foods contain more than double the amount of calories of carb and protein foods. Make the most of your calories by reducing your fat intake and increasing your carb and protein intake.

Get a jump start on your personal weight loss program today.

Sources:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=question457.htm&url=http://www.wvda.org/calcs/
http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/weight/calsburned.htm
http://health.howstuffworks.com/question670.htm