 How do I calculate my calories and needs is a question that concerns all those who want to control their weight by balancing the calories they need during the day and will not be able to count calories unless they can understand the definition of calories, which is different when talking about diet or exercise.
 definition of calories
Calories are a measure of energy consumption, and the definition of calories referred to when talking about diet, which refers to the calories that are eaten, is different. As for the definition of calories that is meant at the time of exercise, it means the calories burned, and the question must be about how I calculate my calories and the need for knowledge about this.
 calories in food
Different nutrients contain more or fewer calories and here are some basic rules of thumb:
- Carbohydrates: One gram of carbohydrates (sugars and starches) contains 4 calories.
- Fat: One gram of fat contains 9 calories.
- Protein: One gram of protein contains 4 calories.
- Fiber: One gram of fiber contains 1.5 calories
calories in physical activity
Physical activity burns calories over the basal metabolic rate as:
- The calories burned during cardiovascular movements such as walking, running, swimming, and cycling depend on the intensity of the exercise, body weight, and the amount of time spent exercising.
- A walking calorie chart can be used to see how many calories can be burned. For example, walking burns about 90 calories per mile for a person weighing 75 kg.
- The body burns available blood sugar, glycogen stored in muscle, liver, and fat depending on the duration and intensity of exercise and may start burning muscle protein afterward.
Calorie Calculator
The cornerstone of any good fitness plan is to have a correct diet and to do this the first thing to do is to determine your daily calorie needs, which is the most important and most prominent point in answering the question of how to calculate my calories and needs and these basic rates:
- On average, a woman needs to eat about 2,000 calories per day to maintain her weight, and 1,500 calories per day to lose one pound of weight per week.
- The average man needs 2,500 calories to maintain his weight, and 2,000 a day to lose one pound of weight per week.
- However, this depends on many factors including age, height, current weight, activity levels, metabolic rate, and many other factors.
How do I calculate my prices and needs?
There are a lot of different calculators on the Internet, some of them are good and some are exaggerated, but if you are a fitness lover, you may want to know the correct scientific method for how to calculate your calories and needs easily and this is a very practical and easy way:
Estimation of basic energy needs
Calculates how many calories the body needs per day for basic energy needs. These formulas are used according to age:
- 18 to 30 men (3 x weight (in kilograms)) + 679
- 30 to 60 men (6 x weight (in kg)) + 879
- Men over 60 years old (5 x weight (in kilograms)) + 487
- 18 to 30 women (14.7 x weight (in kilograms)) + 496
- 30 to 60 women (8.7 x weight (in kilograms)) + 829
- Women over 60 years old (10.5 x weight (in kilograms)) + 596
Activity rate estimation
The value of the activity factor is determined through the following table in proportion to the lifestyle, then the basic energy needs are multiplied by the value of the activity factor, which is determined by:
- If activities for most of the day include sitting, standing, driving, sewing, ironing or cooking, playing cards, reading and writing are very light activities, the activity factor is estimated to be 0.2.
- If activities for most of the day include garage, electrical, carpentry or restaurant work, house cleaning, childcare, golfing, sailing, and light exercise such as walking, the work is light and the activity factor is estimated to be 0.3.
- If activities for most of the day include heavy gardening, housework, cycling, playing tennis, skiing, or dancing, the activity rate is 0.4
- If activities for most of the day involve heavy manual work such as construction or digging and playing sports such as basketball or soccer, the activity rate is 0.5
Estimating calories in food
The number of calories an individual needs to digest and absorb nutrients is determined, because eating calories burns about 10 percent of daily energy needs, so the previous total is multiplied by 10 percent.
Calculate total calories
The total calorie needs are calculated, which is the answer we are looking for to the question of how to calculate my calories and needs by summing the three products from the previous operations.
During the article, we addressed the answer to the question of how to calculate my calories and needs, what is the definition of calories, and how to calculate calories accurately.