Calculating your daily calorie requirements is the first step in starting a diet. You need to know how many calories per day your body needs so you know what you should be eating to lose weight. There are many different formulas you can use, but here are some of the most common ones.
Desired bodyweight x 14-16
Choose the weight you wish to be when your diet is over, multiply that number by 14 is you are sedate, or 16 if you are active, and that will be your maintenance number. For example, if you want to be 150 pounds, you multiply that by 14 to get 2100, which will be the amount of calories someone at that weight needs to maintain their weight. Then, you can reduce that by 500 or so to lose weight.
Harris Benedict Formula
You can use a search engine to find a calculator for the Harris Benedict Formula. By inputting your age, height and weight, you will be able to find out a rough estimate of what your BMR, or basal metabolic rate is. Based on this, you will be able to set your daily calorie needs for weight loss.
You need to know how many calories you need to eat per day if you want to lose weight – exercise is not enough. Do all the calculations, find out what your calorie requirement for weight loss is, eat that much food, and watch the weight melt off.