Daily calories requirements

Every fitness enthusiast knows the importance of calories intake.

If you are unfamiliar with the calories concept, I will explain it to you.

Calorie is a unit of energy. We need energy and hence, calories for our daily work and living.

Those calories or energy come from food that we eat.

Some calories are spent by the body in the daily internal functioning of the body, like work done by respiratory system, nervous system, cardiovascular system and all the work that body does internally, to keep us alive. This energy used is called basic metabolic rate or BMR and it depends on the weight of the person.

BMR is nearly equal to 10 multiplied by the weight of the person in pounds.

BMR = 10 x weight in lbs

So, if a person weighs 150 lbs, his BMR is nearly equal to 1500 calories.

Now, when we eat food, some energy is used by our body to digest that food. This energy is used by our digestive system. The more we eat, the more energy our body requires to digest that food. 

This energy required to digest the food is called thermic effect of food for TEF.

TEF = BMR ÷ 10

So, if a person weighs 150 lbs, his BMR will be 1500 calories and TEF will be 150 calories.

Now, when we walk around or exercise or read or talk or do anything else, we require energy to do that. This energy is required by our body to do external work is called Thermic effect of Activity or TEA.

TEA depends on the the amount of activity that we do or the lifestyle that we follow.

TEA = BMR x Activity Multiplier

Activity multiplier can have 5 values as follows.

1. 0.2, for sedentary lifestyle like walking less than 15 minutes daily or sitting all day.

2. 0.375, for active lifestyle like walking 1 hour daily or running 30 minutes two to three times per week.

3. 0.55, for moderately active lifestyle like strength training three to four times per week or playing outdoor sport like cricket, tennis, squash or rugby three to four times per week.

4. 0.7, for very active lifestyle like walking 7 km or more daily or strength training 5 to 6 times per week or playing outdoor sport 5 to 6 times per week.

5. 0.9, for professional athletes who do strength training 7 to 10 times per week or  running three to five times per week.

You can choose your activity multiplier as per your lifestyle and hence calculate your TEA.

For example, a person weighing 150 lbs, involved in a desk job for 5 days a week who does not exercise or walk not more than 10 minutes a day, would be considered a sedentary lifestyle. So his activity multiplier would be 0.2.

Hence, TEA = 1500 (BMR) x 0.2 = 300 calories

So, the total energy that we require daily to maintain our weight is the sum of BMR, TEF and TEA.

Total daily energy effect or TDEE = BMR + TEF + TEA.

Where,

BMR = 10 x weight in lbs

TEF = BMR ÷ 10

TEA = BMR x Activity Multiplier

Let's take an example of a person who weighs 150 lbs and walks more than 45 minutes daily, hence has an active lifestyle. So, his activity multiplier will be 0.375.

As per the formulas given above,

BMR = 150 x 10 = 1500 calories

TEF = 1500 ÷ 10 = 150 calories

TEA = 1500 x 0.375 = 562.5 calories

TDEE = 1500 + 150 + 562.5 = 2212.5 calories

So, he requires 2212.5 calories daily through food to maintain his 150 lbs weight.

If he consumes less calories, then his weight will decrease and if he consumes more calories, his weight will increase. This is the concept of weight loss and weight gain in fitness industry.

Now, how to calculate the amount of calories we are consuming through the food that we eat?

You can simply search on Google about the nutritional information of the food that you eat.

Remember, different foods and different amounts of foods have different calories. So you need to make sure that you log the correct information.

For example, if you eat a banana you have to search on Google: banana nutritional information.

This is the result that you will get.

If you notice, there are 89 calories in 100 grams of banana. So you have to convert how much banana you ate and log the correct amount of calories as per the weight of the banana that you eat.

For example, if you ate a banana which weighed 150 grams (without skin), you consumed 133.5 calories.

For convenience, you can use a smartphone application to find and log your daily calories intake.

I personally use this application on my Android smartphone. You can choose this application or any other application as per your convenience.

So, this was all about the daily calories requirement. I hope you found the article useful and if you have any queries or suggestions please feel free to contact me or you can also comment down here.

Thanks for reading and please do follow my other articles for more fitness related information.

Stay fit, stay healthy 🙏

Manav Sethi,

Certified Nutrition Consultant (,15 CPD hours)

Phone or WhatsApp number: +91-7827051271

Email: manavsethi0505@gmail.com