Depending on whether you are a woman or a man, sedentary or athletic, the calorie requirement is not the same. But our body needs a minimum of calories. Here is a very simple calorie calculation.
Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
Before calculating calories, you must calculate the BMI. Recognized by the World Health Organization, the body mass index lets you know if you have a healthy weight: you must be neither too fat nor too thin! The math is simple: divide your weight (in pounds) by your height squared (in centimeters).
If you weigh 50 kilos and are 1.60m tall, your BMI is 50 divided by 25.6 (160 x 160) = 0.195. Remember only the decimal places; your BMI is 19.5. According to the ranges established by the WHO, your weight, in this case, is normal because between 18.5 and 24.9 (kilos per square meter). If your BMI is less than 18.5, you are too skinny. Between 24.5 and 29.9, you are overweight. Beyond 30, you are in a situation of obesity.
Know Your Basic Metabolism
The other slightly more complicated calculation is knowing your basal metabolic rate. It is calculated according to the Harris and Benedict formula: If you are a man, calculate: [13.7516 x Weight (kg)] + [500.33 x Height (m)] – (6.755 x Age) + 66.473. For example, if you are a man of 1m80 weighing 75 kilos and aged 30, your basal metabolic rate is 1031.37 (13.7516 x 75) + 900.594 (500.33 x 1.8) – 202.65 (6.755 x 30) + 66.473 = 1795.78.
1795 calories are the basal metabolism of a 30-year-old man, 1m80 tall and weighing 75 kilos. Below this daily calorie intake, his body is no longer sufficiently supplied with calories for its vital functions.If you are female, your basal metabolic rate = [9.5634 x Weight (kg)] + [184.96 x Height (m)] – (4.6756 x Age) + 655.0955. This is the minimum number of calories below, which you must not go.
A threshold that is weighted according to lifestyle: multiply this number of calories by 1.375 if you are sedentary; 1.56 if you exercise once or twice a week; by 1.54 if you exercise every other day; by 1.82 if you are a real sportsman. If this sounds like an apothecary account to you, you will nevertheless have a reliable reflection of the number of calories you need per day.
Calorie Calculation: Food Table
The lower a food’s nutrients, the higher it is in calories! The foods provide extra calories, depending on whether they are carbohydrates, fats, or proteins: 1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories, 1 gram of fat 9 calories, and 1 gram of protein 4 calories. By the way, a gram of alcohol? Ouch, 7 calories is the worst since they are “empty” calories, meaning without any nutrients.No need to take the calculator to do some arithmetic. The equation is simple: foods that are low in nutrients are generally the highest in calories.
Among the most calorie-dense foods, you find fats of animal origin (fish oil provides 900 calories per 100 grams), nuts and seeds despite their interest in nutrients, cold cuts because they are fat-based also poor in nutrients, sugary and carbonated drinks, chocolate, biscuits, fried foods, cheese and sweets of all kinds. In short, the less food is, the more calories it provides. Simple to remember. French fries and a carbonated drink do not nourish; they artificially fill the stomach. Hence the fact that athletes prefer dried fruits to sweets to have calories and nutrients.
Also Read: Lose Weight Faster: 7 Tips To Burn More Calories While Jogging
