What is the formula to find proper calories to maintain weight? This is what the equation would look like:
* The calories to maintain your weight = your basal metabolic rate (BMR) * your activity level
First, let's figure out how to find out your basal metabolic rate or BMR. Your basal metabolic rate is the base amount of calories your body needs every day to maintain daily functions including breathing, pumping blood throughout the body, building muscle tone and so on. In general, BMR are the calories your body needs for all basic functions. It doesn't matter whether you are sleeping all day or not, your body will need around 75% of the calories intake to keep your body working properly.
To calculate your BMR, your gender, your current weight, your height in inches and your age are all taken into account. To calculate your BMR, according to your gender, choose the right equation: Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x your weight in pounds) + (4.7 x your height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years) Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x your weight in pounds) + (12.7 x your height in inches) - (6.8 x your age in years) After you have your BMR, then take a look at your daily activities and decide which level it falls under: * Sedentary (very little to no exercise) [1.2] * Lightly active (light exercise, 1 - 3 days a week) [1.375] * Moderately (moderate exercise, 3 - 5 days a week) [1.55] * Very active (hard exercise, 6 - 7 days a week) [1.725] * Extra active (very hard exercise, sports & physical job) [1.9]
The last step is to take the BMR that you calculated earlier and multiply it by the number inside the brackets of your activity level. So, let's do a quick example just in case you are a little confused. Janice is a 40 years old female that weighs 150 pounds, her height is 5 feet and 4 inches (64 inches) and her activity level is moderate [1.55]. To calculate her BMR, we choose the BMR equation for a woman which is: Janice"s BMR = 655 + (4.35 x 150) + (4.7 x 64) - (4.7 x 40) = Janice's BMR = 655 + 652.5 + 300.8 - 188 = 1,420 So Janice's body needs 1,420 calories for its daily functions. To calculate the calories that Janice needs to maintain her weight, we multiply her BMR with the number of her activity level (1,420 X 1.55). So 1,420 x 1.55 is 2,201. Janice needs around 2,201 calories a day to maintain her weight.
Keep in mind that there are other factors that can affect your BMR. Genetics, medications, lean body mass and organ health are all factors that can affect your BMR. If you like to lift weights and build muscles, your body will need more calories to to maintain weight than someone that doesn't have the same exercise load.
Keep the number of calories in your diet close to the calories you need to maintain weight that you calculated with the above equation. I also recommend you weigh yourself once a week around the same time of the day (Monday morning before eating anything). This will help you keep track of your weight. If you see you are losing or gaining weight, just add or subtract 100 calories at the time to your diet to a make an adjustment.
Obviously one would have to be very dedicated to health and nutrition and posses a strong ethic of discipline to use the formula here discussed. For most folks it seems logical that controlling the diet to such an exacting degree is not worth the effort but for those who are in competition the math behind the calories can be a tool to help design the diet that will cut the fat show the muscle.
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