Eat the right amount of calories for how active you are егэ

The single most important factor for weight loss is calorie control, period. It is basic biology and also physics. If you eat fewer calories than your body needs you will lose weight. But how can you learn exactly how many calories you need each day? 

Here is everything you need to understand calorie control and estimate your exact calorie needs for weight loss.

Calories Explained

At the most basic level, your body runs off energy in the form of calories from foods and beverages. Calories = energy. And you need this energy to fuel your daily needs and to just plain survive. If you stop eating calories, you will eventually die.

So what does survival have to do with achieving a healthy weight? Well, because calories are so important for living, your body has a way to store them as muscle and fatty tissue — which is also the exact type of weight you are able to lose, gain or maintain. This storage form acts as a reserve fuel for times you are not getting calories directly from food, and as a safety measure just in case you aren’t able to eat again for a while. 

Creating a Calorie Deficit

If the amount of calories you eat is equal to the number of calories you burn, you will maintain your current weight. If you eat less, you will use more reserve fuels for energy and lose fat and muscle weight. And if you eat more, you store more reserve fuel and gain muscle and/or fat. This is the calorie balance equation for weight management: calories in versus calories out.

There is no pill, special diet or food that is able to hack your metabolism and change this basic formula. No matter how much fat or how many calories you burn for fuel, you cannot lose weight or lose fat unless you eat less than what you burn through a consistent calorie deficit.

What is a Calorie?

When it comes to nutrition, there is no single discovery more valuable than a calorie as it relates to energy intake and expenditure. Calories allow us to quantify our food, compare different foods and manage individual nutrition and fitness needs. But what exactly is a calorie?

Technically speaking, a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water 1 degree Celsius. Or in other words, it is a unit of measurement that tells us how much energy is in our food. Initially, calories were measured by placing a food item in a sealed container and submerging it in water or burning the food. Today, calories are estimated using the food macronutrient breakdown, or in other words, the number of carbs, fat, and protein a food contains (2). 

Calories have long been used as a measurement of heat, dating back to the early 1800s. But what we know and recognize as a food calorie today was not established until sometime around the 20th century (3). To this day, calories remain the most efficient way to measure energy intake and output, and the best way we know of to directly affect weight management.

Macros = Calories

Food and drinks are made up of macros — carbohydrates, protein, and fat — that supply all of the calories we eat. Each macro has a different role when it comes to health and nutrition and also provides a different number of calories per each gram (protein and carbs = 4 calories per gram, fat = 9 calories per gram).

Because macros play a role in your health and energy intake, tracking your macros is an efficient way to count calories and balance your nutrition intake. 

Micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, also play a role in overall health and weight management but they do not directly contribute to calorie intake. In other words, you don’t get any calories from the vitamins and minerals that you eat or drink.

Even though many micronutrients are involved in metabolic processes that help you get energy and can sometimes make you feel more energetic (I’m looking at you B12), they cannot increase your energy alone; you still need calories from macros for this. 

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How Many Calories Do You Need?

Energy needs are completely individualized which is part of the reason why calorie control works so well for weight loss — there is no one size fits all approach to how much energy your body needs. Calorie needs can vary depending on age, height, gender, body weight, percent lean muscle mass and level of activity. 

Your daily needs are made up of four major components, BMR, NEAT, TEA and TEF. Together, these comprise your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is a fancy way of saying how many calories you burn each day based on your lifestyle, physical activity, and personal needs. 

BMR: What is Basal Metabolic Rate? 

Your daily bodily functions — like your heartbeat, brain power, and breathing, all need a certain number of calories to work. This basic amount of calories is also known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR). This is the bare minimum of energy you need each day, if you never left your bed or moved around, and accounts for 60% to 70% of your daily calorie requirement. 

Your BMR is directly related to your body weight. The more you weigh, the higher it is. 

TEA and NEAT: Activity Energy Expenditure

Assuming you will move around at some point during the day, you will also need to consider calories burned from activity. This includes non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and your thermogenic effect of activity (TEA). NEAT is essentially basic daily movements, including how much you fidget, whereas TEA is the effect of exercise or more strenuous physical activity. Combined, these two make up roughly 20% to 35% of your energy needs. 

Increasing your activity level through fitness or daily movements is the easiest path to burning more calories each day. 

What is TEF?

Your total daily energy expenditure is also affected by something called the thermic effect of food (TEF), also called diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). TEF or DIT accounts for only a small portion, 10% of your total TDEE, but it is still worth noting.

Because TEF is such a small portion of your TDEE, it is not necessary to consider when calculating your overall calorie needs. But it may still be an important factor when considering what to eat for weight loss. 

Calculate Your TDEE

You can easily get your TDEE using an online calorie calculator. Or estimate your needs using an activity factor (AF) and known BMR. 

Based on how active or sedentary you are each day, use one of the following, or perhaps somewhere in between:

• Sedentary (AF of 1.1) — Little to no exercise. 
• Lightly Active (AF of 1.2) — Light exercise or training 1 to 3 days per week. 
• Moderately Active (AF of 1.35) — Moderate exercise 2 or more days per week. 
• Very Active (AF of 1.4) — Hard exercise 3 or more days per week. 
• Extremely Active (AF of 1.6) — Working out 2 or more times a day. 

Simply multiply your selected activity factor and BMR together to get your TDEE. 

TDEE = BMR x AF

How Many Calories to Lose Weight?

I know what you’re thinking, cutting as many calories as possible is the best way to quick weight loss. But trust me on this, you are going to be much happier and more successful in the long run if you only cut 15 to 20% of your calories or less. Starving yourself might work temporarily, but it certainly isn’t going to be sustainable or even enjoyable for that matter. And you may end up gaining all the weight back and then some.

Additionally, don’t just jump to any arbitrary number you see on the web, Just because 1,200 calories is a popular plan doesn’t mean its right for you. Remember, your calorie goals are highly personalized. 

Start with one of the following for at least three weeks and then reassess your needs:

Sustainable Weight Loss = TDEE x 0.85

Fast Weight Loss = TDEE x 0.8

If you find that after dieting for some time, you are no longer losing weight, it might just be time to give yourself a break. Take a couple of weeks off your diet and let your calories creep up just a little. If you’ve lost some weight, you probably have to recalculate a new TDEE to maintain your new normal. And then after a little bit of time adjusting, you can get back to cutting calories until you reach your goal weight. 

Whatever you do, don’t rush it or push your body too hard. Remember this is survival fuel we are talking about here. And your personal wellbeing is just as, if not more, important than the number on the scale. You will reach your goals, you will make progress and you will see results, you just need to be consistent and give yourself time.  

How Many Calories Are in a Pound?

Wondering how much you need to cut in order to lose one pound?  Well, there are roughly 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so you would need to cut this amount from your diet through food or exercise to lose one pound. 

This number will also give you a good gauge of how fast you are able to lose weight since there are only so many calories you can cut or burn each day. If you spread out 3,500 calories throughout the week — 500 calories a day — you can expect to lose about a pound per week. But again this depends on many individual factors and is not a perfect science. 

How to Make Your Calories Count

Weight loss is a numbers game, but there are a few things you can try to make your journey more bearable and give you even better results by either focusing on portion sizes, the types of foods you are choosing, getting your mental health in check, and opting for the most efficient forms of exercise for weight loss. 

Your body needs energy to live, but you also need good nutrition to live well, and longer. While the quantity of what you eat will determine overall weight loss, gain or maintenance, the quality of what you eat also plays an important role.

The overall balance and nutrition of your diet can affect the type of weight you lose, gain or maintain. If your macro balance is out of whack, you could be storing more fat or losing muscle mass, which can hinder your overall efforts. 

In addition, eating more nutrient-dense foods may help you control hunger (5). When your body is not getting the nutrition you need or is deficient in key nutrients, it signals to your brain that you need to keep eating, regardless of how much you’ve eaten. 

To easily track your daily calorie intake and overall nutrition for FREE, download the Trifecta App!

About This Article

Did this article help you?

For some individuals, it will help understand how many calories your body needs in one day. Counting calories and understanding how many calories can I eat and lose weight can be a great method to evaluate if you are taking in too much or not enough. If you are interested in being even more exact, this straightforward computation will give you a daily calorie target. And it can help you lose a healthy 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Calculate how many calories can I eat and lose weight

Compute your calorie target: YOUR PRESENT WEIGHT X 12 = calories needed to keep your weight
• To lose 1 pound per week: Cut 500 calories/day • To lose 2 pounds per week: Cut 1,000 calories/day
[ Disclaimer: For healthy weight reduction, we don’t recommend losing more than two pounds per week. How many calories can i eat and lose weight, ask you. If you compute a daily calorie target that is less than 1,200, establish your calorie target at 1,200 calories. Below that, it is difficult meet your own nutritional needs – or feel satisfied enough to stick with a strategy. This computation is only a recommended starting point.

It is a formula that is used in many clinical weight reduction trials. It presumes that the individual using the equation is sedentary. If you are an active man and you are finding your result (say 1,200 calories) is too low, bump it up slowly to one that feels fulfilling to you. The purpose isn’t to starve yourself. Most individuals will slim down on a 1,500 calorie diet, some on an even higher caloric amount. The finest gauge for whether you are at the correct amount is how fulfilled you feel (you should not be starving all day!) and whether you are slimming down. If you’re losing weight on 1,800 a day and you feel great, stick with that.]

Some easy tricks

Now you understand how many calories can you eat and lose weight. Get creative and mix and match these breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner choices to remain in – and stick to – your calorie targets:
Individuals often underestimate calorie consumption by 20 to 40 percent. So follow these foolproof tricks to help fight “portion distortion” and make matching your calorie targets even simpler.

Split your plate

Imagine a dinner plate and divide it in half. Fill one half with vegetables, fill one quarter with lean protein (fish, skinless poultry, lean beef, beans or tofu), fill the other quarter with a grain-based or starchy side dish, preferably a whole grain like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta or a slice of whole-grain bread. If you concentrate on making most of your meals seem this way, you will automatically select proper pieces and follow sound nourishment guidelines.

Try it on for size

To count how many calories can i eat and still lose weight, there’s no need to whip out measuring cups every time you desire to serve up an ideal portion. Select tall, skinny glasses. So when mixing cocktails or pouring a glass of juice, (believe beverages which contain calories), forgo those shorter, fatter glasses for taller, slim ones. Purchase the smaller piece. Clearly, the smaller sized alternative will have fewer calories, and research demonstrates which people often eat, normally, 22 percent more when they are offered a larger part of food.

Be cautious of enticing menu names

Giving a menu item an enjoyable name can allow it to be more appealing. Would not you instead purchase the “Black Forest Double Chocolate Cake” than simply the “Chocolate Cake”?

Eat tasty, hearty meals

Studies reveal that individuals would rather have a dessert after a poor meal than after a truly excellent one.

Dec 27, 2019
Dec 27, 2019

How much weight you can lose is dependent on your ability to reduce the amount of calories you eat over a long period of time. It doesn’t matter if you eat a little more today and a little less tomorrow. For weight loss, you need to think in terms of weeks and months rather than hours and days.

The only thing that matters is how many days you can eat less calories than you need to maintain your current weight vs how many days that you eat enough or more calories than you need to maintain your current weight.

This is how to picture eating for weight loss over a week:

Lets say you need to eat 2000 calories per day to maintain your current weight (and lets also assume you want to be lighter than this weight).

Lets also assume you want to lose half a pound of fat this week. A half pound of fat contains about 1750 calories.

By the end of this week you would need to have eaten 1750 calories less than the amount of calories that keep you at your current bodyweight.

It doesn’t matter at all how you get to this deficit. It just matters that by the end of the week you have eaten less food than you needed to stay the same weight. That’s it.

The real trick is finding a way to do this consistently. Most popular diets give you a set of rules to follow every day, every time you eat, taking all the fun and spontaneity out of eating. These diets are doomed to fail because they are too restrictive. Food is fun, and social, and nobody wants to be told they can’t eat their favorite foods or that they can’t go out and eat when everyone else is and enjoy the same foods and not feel guilty about it.

Basic Calorie Requirements Calculation Based on Activity Level:

• Sedentary : 13 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
  Sedentary is not exercising at all
• Moderately Active: 16 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
  Moderately Active is exercising approximately 3-4 times per week
• Very Active: 19 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
  Very Active is 5-7 strenuous exercise sessions per week.

If you weigh over 200 pound now, and you’d like to weigh closer to 150, here is a calculation you could use to get started: Assuming you are going to be adding enough exercise to quality as Moderately Active, we’ll use 16 as our modifier:

• 150 pounds X 16 calories per pound = 2400 calories

Less 500 (Using the common 500 calories per day reduction) gives us a total of 1900 average calories per day.

So back to the original question: how many calories should i eat a day to lose weight?

Answer: It doesn’t matter, and it is too difficult to monitor how much food you eat on daily basis. Instead set your goal to be less food over a week, not a day. This will take the guilt away on days when you go out and eat socially, or ϳust want to have some ice cream and burgers. So the new question is this; How do you do this? And I think I have the answer.

I have recently been exposed to a new style of nutrition that is the easiest way to achieve a weekly caloric deficit that produces lasting weight loss and does not restrict any of the foods I like to eat or when I can eat them! This new program is called Eat Stop Eat, and frankly it’s so obvious it was almost embarrassing that I never managed to think of this on my own years ago. The basic concept is short term intermittent Fasting!

Yes that’s right Fasting! The concept blew me away when I first heard it. And then it started to make so much more sense as I read into the research with the help of the author of the book Brad Pilon. And the big difference with this style of nutrition is that it is flexible, sustainable AND effective.

Calorie is a measure of energy. The number of calories that you should eat is determined by a variety of factors including your age your gender, your weight, your height, your physical activity levels, and on whether you want to gain, lose, or maintain weight.

A vital balance between your calorie intake and your calorie expend is required. You can estimate the number of calories you need each day with some mathematics. Using a formula known as the Harris-Benedict principle, you can calculate your BMR¹. BMR is defined as the amount of energy needed by your body in order to carry out its functions properly. These functions include pumping blood, movement, blood purification, breathing, etc. After you get an idea of your BMR, you can estimate the ideal calorie intake for you there from.

You can use the following formulas for calculating your BMR. Both of the following formulas apply only for adults. Use formula number one if you are a man and formula number two if you are a women.

Formula no. 1

• 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) — (6.8 x age in years)

Formula no. 2

• 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) — (4.7 x age in years)

BMR gives you the estimate of the energy needed by your body to function properly. But you need more energy than your BMR, in order to carry out your physical activities.

Calories needed daily = «Amount of energy body needs (BMR)» + «Amount of energy your body needs to perform physical activities»

If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, multiply your BMR by 20 percent; if you are a little active, multiply it by 30 percent; if moderately active, by 40 percent; if very active, by 50; and if extra active, by 60.

Add the number that you get through this calculation to your BMR. This is the number of calories that you should consume every day in order to maintain your present weight. If you want to increase your weight, you have to increase your calorie intake more than this number, and if you want to lose your weight, decrease your calorie intake from your calculated ideal number of calories per day.

If you want to lose weight

If you want to lose weight, as mentioned earlier, you have to cut from the ideal number of calories specified for you. For the calorie deficit you create to be a healthier and an easier option for you, you need to cut back on your calories gradually. There are 3500 calories in each pound. You can lose almost one pound a week if you cut 500 calories each day. You can cut off 500 calories every day from your diet or else, you can burn off 500 calories each day through exercising. But an ideal combination of both is vital. Adjust your diet and exercise regimes in such a way that you cut back on 250 calories from your diet and burn 250 calories by exercising every day.

There may be a little variation every week in your weight loss. Initially you may even be gaining a little weight due to muscle development as a result of your work outs. But that helps you in the long run. So don’t worry.

But always bear in mind that your weight loss should be a healthy one. Opt for a healthy weight loss rate ranging from 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. Trying to lose more than 2 pounds a week is not advisable as such a weight loss cannot be a permanent one. Cutting on more than 300 calories per day unless advised by your physician must never be done. Maintain a journal, and record all your calorie intakes and your physical activities each day for at least a period of one week.

Try to incorporate changes in your daily diet in order to cut back on calories, gradually. You can do this easily. Follow our ideas listed below.

• In the food journal that you maintain, record the calorie content against each food taken. You can check the foods’ calorie content from internet or books.
• Portion sizes matter. You can use a measuring cup or scale to measure out your food portions for a sometime till you learn measuring ϳust by seeing.
• Eliminate some foods altogether. These should be those unhealthy, highly processed and junk foods. Avoid all fried stuff, cookies, candies, butter, margarine, etc.
• Switch to low-calorie healthy foods. Include a lot of fruits and vegetables in your diet. They contain minerals, vitamins, dietary fibre and some disease fighting phytochemicals in them.
• Replace certain foods with their healthy counterparts like whole milk with low-fat milk, red meat with white meat, white sauce with red sauce, nuts with air-popped pop corn, ice creams with frozen yogurt, etc. Prefer grilled, roasted, boiled, broiled, poached meat over the fried ones.
• Take mono unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) containing foods. They will help you suppress hunger and food cravings.
• Take fat burning foods like olive oil, eggs, apples, berries, garlic, etc.
• Drink three liters of water daily.

Next to diet control, comes your exercising part. Burn off 250 calories through physical activities and exercises every day. Exercise for at least 30 minutes each day. Involve yourself in a lot of outdoor activities like swimming, racing, rowing, cycling, running, jogging, etc. At home too, you can perform exercises like crunches, sit ups, plank, step ups, push ups, squats, etc. The video below illustrates the amount of calories appropriate for various types of persons.

Stick to strict disciplines in your exercise regime. Maintain timing and exercise duration. Learn simple warm up and cool down tricks; and do them before and after exercises.

Kick away laziness. Besides exercising, keep yourself active all through the day. Resolve to keep active even after your efforts have paved way to achieving your desired weight loss. Keeping yourself active works wonders on your health and overall being.

1. Don’t skip breakfast
2. The key to a healthy diet
3. Eat more fish
4. No more than 6g of salt a day for adults
5. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
6. Eat lots of fruit and veg
7. Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates
8. The hazards of an unhealthy diet

A) Eat the right amount of calories for how active you are, so that you balance the energy you consume with the energy you use. If you eat or drink too much, you’ll put on weight. If you eat and drink too little, you’ll lose weight. Eat a wide range of foods to ensure that you’re getting a balanced diet and that your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs. It is recommended that men have around 2,500 calories a day. Women should have around 2,000 calories a day. Most adults are eating more calories than they need, and should eat fewer calories.

B) They include potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals. Choose wholegrain varieties (or eat potatoes with their skins on) when you can: they contain more fibre, and can help you feel full for longer. Most of us should eat more starchy foods: try to include at least one starchy food with each main meal. Some people think starchy foods are fattening, but gram for gram the carbohydrate they contain provides fewer than half the calories of fat. Keep an eye on the fats you add when you’re cooking or serving these types of foods because that’s what increases the calorie content, for example oil on chips, butter on bread and creamy sauces on pasta.

C) It’s recommended that we eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day. It’s easier than it sounds. Why not chop a banana over your breakfast cereal, or swap your usual mid-morning snack for a piece of fresh fruit? Unsweetened 100% fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies can only ever count as a maximum of one portion of your 5 a day. For example, if you have two glasses of fruit juice and a smoothie in one day, that still only counts as one portion.

D) Fish is a good source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals. Aim to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including at least one portion of oily fish. Oily fish contains omega-3 fats, which may help to prevent heart disease. If you regularly eat a lot of fish, try to choose as wide a variety as possible. You can choose from fresh, frozen and canned: but remember that canned and smoked fish can be high in salt.

E) We all need some fat in our diet, but it’s important to pay attention to the amount and type of fat we’re eating. There are two main types of fat: saturated and unsaturated. Too much saturated fat can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which increases your risk of developing heart disease. The average man should have no more than 30g saturated fat a day. The average woman should have no more than 20g saturated fat a day, and children should have less than adults.

F) Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. People with high blood pressure are more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. Even if you don’t add salt to your food, you may still be eating too much. About three-quarters of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, such as breakfast cereals, soups, breads and sauces. Use food labels to help you cut down. More than 1.5g of salt per lOOg means the food is high in salt. Adults and children over 11 should eat no more than 6g of salt (about a teaspoonful) a day. Younger children should have even less.

G) Eating a healthy, balanced diet plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy weight, which is an important part of overall good health. Being overweight or obese can lead to health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease and stroke. Being underweight could also affect your health.