Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Daily Calorie Calculator

This calculator will compute your daily calorie goal or the number of calories you’ll consume daily to lose weight.

  1. Determine your resting metabolic rate by entering your weight, age and height (in inches) and selecting your race and gender.
  2. Identify the level of physical activity that best describes your activity pattern
  3. Choose your goal – weight loss or weight maintenance.

The cell marked with both the number of calories that matches your activity level and weight loss goal is your daily calorie goal.
Weight Age
African American Ancestory
Height (in inches)
Asian Ancestory
BMI 26.6 Gender
RMR 1375 Body Fat % 36.0
RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) The calories your body burns functioning at rest.
 
Sedentary Little or no exercise; You sit down most of the day and drive or ride whenever possible.
 
Light Activity Light exercise/sports 1-3 d/week; Daily job/tasks involve more walking and standing than sitting. Exercise durations are <60 min/session and intensities are <70% HRmax
 
Moderate Activity Moderate exercise 3-5 d/week; You engage in intentional exercise such as an hour of jogging or a run/walk four or five times per week. Intensities are >70% HRmax
 
Heavy Activity Hard exercise/sports 6-7 days per week; Your job requires much physical labor such as a roofer or a carpenter. Exercise duration is sometimes >60 min/sess. at 70-90% HRmax
 
Exceptional Activity Very hard exercise/sport and physical job; For people who workout at high intensities many hours per day on most days
To Maintain Your Weight
Sedentary Light Activity Moderate Activity Heavy Activity Exceptional Activity
Daily Calorie Goal  1650 1890 2131 2371 2612
To Lose 1 Pound of Fat per Week
Sedentary Light Activity Moderate Activity Heavy Activity Exceptional Activity
Daily Calorie Goal         ** 1390 1631 1871 2112
 
** Calories less than 1200. We do not recommend less than 1200 calories per day without physician supervision.

  • BF% is from McArdle, William D., Katch, Frank I., Katch, Victor L.  Sports and Exercise Nutrition.  2nd Ed.  Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005. pp. 404-405
    The equation we use for this calculation is:
    63.7 – 864 x (1.00 / BMI) – 12.1 x sex + 0.12 x age + 129 x Asian x (1 / BMI) – 0.091 x Asian x age – 0.030 x African-American x age (where sex = 1 for male and 0 for female, Asian = 1 for Asians and 0 for all other races; etc.)
  • BMI is from the Quetelet equation:  body weight in kg / stature in m2 (converted to US units- pounds and inches)
  • RMR is from the Katch McArdle equation.