If your health and wellness goals include losing, gaining, or maintaining weight, it’s helpful to learn how to calculate your calorie needs. Knowing how many calories you need can help guide your food and activity choices to reach your goals. This is the whole idea of the CICO diet, which stands for Calories In Calories Out.
The logic of the CICO diet is that once you know your calorie needs, you can gain, lose, or maintain weight by adding, subtracting, or meeting them.
Read on for a step-by-step guide to calculating your calorie needs using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Additionally, once you know those numbers, you will learn how to work with them.
Step 1: Calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR)
It all starts with your basal metabolic rate (BMR). That’s how many calories your body burns just to stay alive. (1) Even if you’re lying in bed all day, your body still needs energy (also called calories) to breathe, pump blood, and produce cells and hormones.
One of the most reliable ways to calculate BMR is to use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which takes into account weight, height, age, and gender. (1, 5)
Plug your numbers into this formula and you’ll get a personalized estimate of how many calories your body burns at rest. I say “estimated” because while this is one of the most accurate ways to calculate BMR, it is not perfect. science. (More on this later.)
Let’s calculate together with an example: For example, if you are a 35-year-old woman who is 5’4” tall and weighs 165 pounds, you would first need to calculate your height and weight in centimeters and kilograms.
- Height (centimeters) = Height (inches) x 2.54 or 64 x 2.54 = 162.56
- Weight in kilograms = Weight in pounds ¼ 2.2 or 165 ¼ 2.2 = 75
Now let’s plug these numbers into the BMR equation.
- BMR = (10 × 75) + (6.25 × 162.56) – (5 × 35) – 161
- Basal metabolic rate = 750 + 1016 – 175 – 161
- BMR 1,430 calories/day
This means your body needs about 1,430 calories each day to maintain essential functions. However, since you are not lying down all day, you need to adjust your energy needs according to your activity level. (If you want to skip the math, you can easily do so. Calculate your BMR here.)
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Step 2: Adjust your BMR based on your activity level
Now that you know your BMR, you can get a more accurate idea of how many calories you actually need each day, taking into account your activity level. This is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). TDEE takes your daily movements into account and adjusts your calorie needs accordingly. (1) To estimate TDEE, you can use the following activity level multiplier:
Mostly sedentary (little or no exercise)
Use this activity level multiplier if you get minimal activity or movement throughout the day (for example, if you drive to work or work an office job). (1)
Activity Multiplier: BMR × 1.2
Moderately active (exercise 1-3 days a week)
This is when you perform some activity, such as walking, up to three days a week. (1)
Activity Multiplier: BMR × 1.375
Moderately active (exercise 3-5 days per week)
Let’s say in your daily life you walk a lot and exercise most days. You are considered moderately active. (1)
Activity Multiplier: BMR × 1.55
Very active (exercise 6-7 days per week).
You are considered very active if you engage in purposeful exercise, such as jumping on the elliptical, or engage in physical labor most days. (1)
Activity Multiplier: BMR × 1.725
Super active (hard exercise or physical labor)
You are considered very active if you exercise hard (such as spin classes) or have a physically demanding job. (1)
Activity Multiplier: BMR × 1.9
Going back to our example, if you exercise 4 times a week, your activity multiplier would be BMR × 1.55. BMR is 1,430 calories, so the equation is:(1)
TDEE = 1,430 × 1.55 = 2,216.50 calories/day
That means you need about 2,215 calories per day to maintain your current weight. Now let’s adjust these numbers based on our goals.
Step 3: Set a goal: Lose, maintain, or gain weight.
Here you can learn how to calculate your calorie needs based on your personal goals.
For weight loss:
The logic behind the CICO diet is that one pound equals approximately 3,500 calories. (6) So if you want to lose weight, you need to subtract 250 to 500 calories from your TDEE.
Using our example TDEE of 2,215, you could reduce your intake by 500 calories to aim for a daily intake of approximately 1,715 calories. This should lead to gradual, sustainable weight loss of about 1 pound per week.
Remember that gradual changes are helpful because they are not overwhelming. Also, keep in mind that while calorie counting is a helpful tool for weight loss, it is not an exact science. After calculating your personal calorie needs for weight loss, you may find that you gain or lose more weight than expected.
For weight gain:
To build muscle or gain weight, you need to eat more calories than your TDEE. Calories needed for weight gain increase by about 500 calories per day, for a total of about 2,715 calories.
A calorie counting tool will be useful as you focus on adding calories for weight gain. MyFitnessPal It also makes it easier to add calories from nutritious sources.
For maintenance:
Aim to align your calorie intake with your TDEE for weight maintenance. In this example, that means consuming approximately 2,215 calories per day.
Whatever your goal, making small, incremental adjustments is the best way to ensure long-term success. Extreme calorie deficits or surpluses can be difficult to maintain and can have negative effects on your health. Calorie counting apps like MyFitnessPal can help you follow the CICO diet to gain, lose, or maintain weight.
About our experts:
Samantha Cassetty, MS, RDHe is a nationally recognized food and nutrition expert, journalist, nutrition consultant, and author. Cassetti is the former nutrition director at Good Housekeeping and co-author of the book. sugar shock.
Daisy Mercer, RD; I am the food data curator at MyFitnessPal. She earned a bachelor’s degree in food science and nutrition from Colorado State University and completed a nutrition internship at the VA San Diego Healthcare system.
Macronutrient Balance: Optimizing Calorie Intake
While the CICO diet can help you manage your calorie intake, macronutrient balance helps you optimize your nutrition.
The three major nutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. The right balance helps provide your body with the right fuel to achieve specific goals, whether it’s losing weight, building muscle, or maintaining weight. (You can use this free macro calculator to determine your personal macro goals.)
protein:
Protein is essential for maintaining strength and muscle mass. (7) Protein also increases satiety, helping you feel full longer after a meal. (1) Eating enough protein while losing weight can help preserve muscle mass and increase satiety during a calorie deficit. (6)
province:
Fat not only helps you absorb nutrients, but it also slows down the rate at which food is digested and metabolized. In other words, like protein, fat can help you feel fuller for longer. (8) A beneficial macronutrient balance includes about 30 percent of your daily calorie needs from heart-healthy fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts, seeds, and extra virgin olive oil. (3)
carbohydrate:
Carbs are often maligned. This is especially true among people trying to lose weight. However, carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body and brain, and muscles need carbohydrates to fuel physical activity. (9) The net truth is that carbohydrates are an important part of macronutrient balance. Typically, 40% of your daily calorie needs should come from carbohydrates (3)
Of course, these are general guidelines and some people prefer to balance their macronutrient intake differently.
Calorie counting is not an exact science: other factors to consider
Calorie counting can be a useful tool for weight management, but there are other factors that affect your body’s ability to lose or gain weight.
That’s why it’s important to be gentle with yourself as you begin your weight management journey. Although calorie tracking is helpful, the process still involves trial and error.
line:
You don’t have as much control over your metabolism as you think. Everyone’s metabolism is unique, and age, genetics, and gender affect metabolic rate.(7) Of course, your activity level (active or inactive) is a factor in your metabolic rate that you can control. (This is explained in more detail below.)
hormone:
Hormones, especially those related to thyroid function, can affect weight gain or loss. Hormones associated with menopause may also affect your ability to lose weight. If you suspect that a hormonal imbalance is making it more difficult for you to manage your weight, talk to your doctor. (7)
If you have lost weight in the past, appetite-regulating hormones may make it more difficult to maintain weight loss. This is because these hormones make you feel hungrier. (10)
Exercise and Muscle Mass:
In addition to improving your health and burning calories, exercise, especially strength training, helps you build more muscle tissue. (5) Muscle burns slightly more calories than fat, even at rest.(5) So, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and calorie requirements.
Bottom Line: Understanding and Adjusting Your Calorie Needs
To optimize your health and achieve your goals, start by calculating your calorie needs using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, adjusting it to your personal activity level. You can then start counting calories to lose, maintain, or gain weight. (MyFitnessPal Much easier to make!)
This is a good start, but it’s also helpful to consider macronutrient balance, as some calories are more filling and nutritious than others.
Remember that this process is very individual and other factors such as genes, hormones and muscle mass also play a role. Through gradual, sustainable changes and a balanced approach to calories and macronutrients, you can make progress toward your personal goals.
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