I do watch what I eat. I watch it go from my hand to my mouth.

I'm posting this for Carl because, well, he asked me to. All the information below comes from Dieting for Dummies.

1. Estimate your basic energy needs.
You can use one of two methods. Either multiply your current weight (in pounds) by 10 if you're a woman or 11 if you're a man. Or use the formulat below, which factors in your age in addition to your sex.

In the formula, weight represents your weight in kilograms, so translate your weight into kilograms by dividing the number of pounds you weigh by 2.2.

Age Use this equation to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate)
Men
18 to 30 [15.3 x weight (in kilograms)] + 679
30 to 60 [11.6 x weight (in kilograms)] + 879
Older than 60 [13.5 x weight (in kilograms)] + 487

Women
18 to 30 [14.7 x weight (in kilograms)] + 496
30 to 60 [ 8.7 x weight (in kilograms)] + 829
Older than 60 [10.5 x weight (in kilograms)] + 596

As an example, I'll show you my math: 155 / 2.2 = 70.45 kilograms
70.45 kilograms x 8.7 = 612.92 calories
612.92 calories + 829 calories = 1,441.92 calories
So, my BMR (which is the number of calories my body needs at complete rest to function) is 1,442

2. Determine your activity factor value.
Activity Level Is.... Your Activity Factor Is....
Very light 0.2
Light 0.3
Moderate 0.4
Heavy 0.5

I exercise about 5 days a week, walking and doing my Orbitrek and floor exercises, and I only qualify as Light Activity, so you can gage yourself from there.

3. Multiply your basic energy needs by the activity factor value that you determined.

_______________ x _______________ = ______________
BMR Activity Factor Calories for activity

When I do mine, I get 1,442 x 0.3 = 432.6 calories

4. Determine the number of calories you need for digestion and absorption of nutrients.

( _____________ + _____________ ) x 10% = __________________
BMR calories Activity calories Calories for degestion/absorption

Mine looks like this: 1,442 calories + 432.6 calories = 1874.6 x 10% = 187.5 calories

5. Total your calories needs. Adding together your BMR, activity and digestion/absorption calorie needs gives you your total calories needs - which basically is the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight.

______________ + ______________ + ______________ = ________________
BMR calories Activity calories Dig/Abs. calories Total calories

Mine is: 1442 + 432.6 +187.5 = 2,062 calories. This means, if I don't want to lose any weight, I need to have at least 2062 calories a day.

posted by allison @ 5:33 PM