Daily Calorie Requirements

Posted on August 26, 2007 by dr.coop

I’m not sure how or when I came up with this figure, but I’ve been trying to maintain a 1500 calorie diet when I’m in serious training mode. Often I find it difficult to eat enough to meet this requirement. So as the first step in our Foothills Revolution Beat the Eat 12 Week Body Challenge, I figured I would revisit my daily calorie requirements.

I took my current weight of 135lbs and converted it to kg by dividing the weight in pounds by 2.2. That came out to 61.3. Then I multiplied that by 24 and got 1471. Next I multiplied this total by a “multiplier,” .90, based on my current body fat %, which falls between 28% and 38%.

So 1471 X .90 = 1324. This apparently is my basal metabolic rate (BMR). I need at least 1324 calories to continue to exist if I do absolutely nothing all day. Interesting. So I have to include daily caloric expenditure because we all know I can’t get by with doing nothing all day. I multiplied 1324 (my BMR) by 1.5 to get my daily caloric needs = 1986. So if I ate 1986 calories a day and didn’t exercise, I’d maintain my current weight of 135.

Oh, but I don’t won’t to stay at 135. I’m shooting for 125, so I have to lower my daily calorie requirements, and I need to burn more calories. So apparently I can lose a pound a week by reducing my caloric intake by 500 calories, or better yet 250 calories and then increasing my caloric output, which is exercise, by 250 calories daily. That sounds like a pretty good deal. But I burn way more than 250 calories a day exercising, so I might have a problem with this formula. I’m going with it anyway. So subtracting 250 calories from 1986 leaves me with 1736 calories per day for weight loss.

I tried my calculation online at the RealAge website, and my results were very different. I posted them below. This is an interesting website. Be sure to check it out.

BMI

Filed under: Beat the Eat, Diet, Goals, weight loss

« It’s Been Awhile Day 1 of the 12 Week Challenge »

2 Responses to “Daily Calorie Requirements”

  1. Michelle Ame Mahoney, on August 27th, 2007 at 8:32 am Said:

    1736 sounds like a reasonable number. Until I
    looked at your training schedule! My God,
    woman, you do SO much! :)

    If I was doing that much on less than 2000
    calories a day, I’d pass out. But that’s just
    me. Seriously, you might want to talk to a
    dietician at one of those gyms you go to.
    People who train that hard that much (like you
    do) benefit from higher calories. As long as
    they’re “good” calories, of course.

    I don’t put much stock in those on-line calorie
    counters. They’re always way off.

    Good luck!

    Ame

  2. dr.coop, on August 27th, 2007 at 10:40 am Said:

    Funny. I was thinking the same thing about the calories. I’ll get to talk to someone this week, so that will be the first thing I ask. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply