How to Determine Calorie Intake to Lose Weight

According to the National Library of Medicine, 66 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. Weight loss has become a hot topic in recent years and fad diets have become the norm. The only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn. Learn how to determine how many calories you need to eat in a day to lose weight.

Instructions

1

Determine your Basal Metabolic Rate, a formula to determine the approximate number of calories a person burns in a day. Women use the following formula: 655 plus (4.35 x weight in pounds) plus (4.7 x height in inches) minus (4.7 x age in years). The formula for men is: 66 plus (6.23 x weight in pounds) plus (12.7 x height in inches) minus (6.8 x age in years).

2

Calculate your activity level by using the Harris Benedict Equation. If you are sedentary, multiply your BMR by 1.2. If you are lightly active, multiply it by 1.375. If you are moderately active, multiply it by 1.55. If you are very active, multiply it by 1.725. If you are extremely active, multiply it by 1.9.

3

Determine how much weight you want to lose per month. One pound is equal to 3,500 calories. Multiply the number of pounds you want to lose in a month by 3,500. If you want to lose 5 pounds in a month you would need to burn 17,500 calories more than you consume in a month. Divide the number of calories by 30 (average of number of days in a month); 17,500 divided by 30 is 583. You would need to burn 583 more calories a day than you consume to lose 5 pounds a month.