How Many Calories a Day SHOULD You Be Eating??

One question that I get from almost everyone I work with is "how many calories should I eat a day if I want to lose weight"? Well the answer is simple and not so simple.

From the simple side of things, since we know a pound is 3500 calories, if you want to lose a pound a week, you need to have a 3500 calorie deficit at the end of the week. The easiest way to do this is to aim for a 500 calorie deficit per day. That means you will need to burn 500 more calories than you consume each day.

So how do you calculate all of this? And how do you know how many calories YOU should have vs. someone else? The easiest formula to calculate your basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body needs to function and maintain your current weight, is to multiply your weight x 10. (If you weigh 180, then you need ~1800 a day to maintain your current weight.) However this calculation doesn't take into account exercise or your lifestyle/activity level.

In addition, the other challenging factor is that basal metabolic rate is not "one size fits all". So even if two people both weigh 180 pounds, that doesn't mean that both people burn calories at the same rate. Genetics or certain lifestyle habits (yo-yo dieting for example) can lower your metabolism, or the rate at which you burn calories. The most accurate way to know how many calories a day you are burning, is to have your resting metabolism measured by a professional facility. If you don't have the time, money or access to a facility that does this sort of testing, you can certainly use the formula listed above to get a general idea.

So, to complete the previous example, if you weigh 180 pounds and want to maintain your weight, you should eat 1800 calories a day. If you want to lose one pound a week, you will either want to eat 1300 calories a day OR (my personal recommendation) you will want to eat 1600 calories a day and complete enough exercise to burn 300 calories a day. Both will give you a 500 calorie deficit each day for a 3500 calorie deficit at the end of the week equaling a one pound loss!

And just a side note...if your weight is low enough that a 500 calorie deficit for the day drops you below eating 1200 calories....don't do it! This will simply send your body into starvation mode and it will store the calories you do eat. In this case, you will want to include enough exercise to equal the calorie deficit rather than cutting calories.

I know this is lots of information to take in and I hope it all makes sense. If you are still struggling with your daily caloric intake or anything mentioned in this post, leave me a comment and we'll get you on the right track!!