jill91198's Journal

Here is some math to help you figure how many calories you should consume. Remember to never go under 1200 for a female and 1500 for a male. This was posted by a frequent visitor to the forums. This information is widely available in internetland. I have slightly edited the content to not infringe on copyright. Information can not be copyrighted, only the way the information is presented. So here is a representation: 

Here is how you can figure your BMR and your caloric needs so that you can stay within 500-1000 calories of your needs. This is the most effective method of losing body fat and not losing water and muscle.


Imperial(US) BMR Formula

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )  

Metric (Canada) BMR Formula

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

This will calculate what you require even if you were to sit on your butt all day or sleeping most of the day. Because this is roughly how many calories your body will burn as a living, breathing, eating, heart-beating, digesting etc.. being. This does not include your daily activities. It is really easy to not eat enough, so you need to factor in your activity levels. 

Harris Benedict Formula To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

This is the total number of calories you need in order to maintain your current weight. Now to address the caloric deficit needed to help lose body fat.

The calorie deficit should be achieved by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is simply the best for lasting fat loss.

If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. One pound of fat = 3500 calories. That is why 1-2lbs per week is the best rate of fat loss. Anything faster would mean you are probably losing muscle mass and losing water. You want to lose FAT without doing damage to your body.


For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories is clearly ridiculous and would be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1500 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are considered by most fitness, nutritional and exercise professionals to be quite low.

An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start.