How many calories should I eat in a day?
I frequently get asked how many calories I eat in a day or what my macros are. I’m always hesitant to share my own numbers because I don't want people to aim for my calorie intake if it’s way off for their own body. This is why I created my macro calculator. I built it using the same calculations I use to determine my own macros, so it will give you the same ratio of protein, carbs, and fat as me but in the correct amounts for your own body and goals. If you choose the “lose weight” option on the calculator, it will put you in a 20% deficit which is around 0.8 to 1 lbs per week.
If you have a more specific goal where you want to lose X amount of weight in Y amount of time, you can calculate out the deficit you need to be in each day and adjust your exercise and food intake accordingly. I’ll walk you through how to do this below.
(# of Pounds X 3,500) / # of Days = Calorie Deficit
So you would take the amount of weight you want to lose and multiply it by 3,500 (this is the number of calories in a pound) then divide that number by the number of days you want to lose the weight in. For example, if my goal was to lose 10 pounds in 2 months I would calculate 10 x 3,500 = 35,000 then take 35,000 / 60 days = 583.33. So I would need to be in a 583.33 calorie deficit every day (which is about 1.17 pounds per week) to achieve my goal.
Now that you know what calorie deficit you need to be in to achieve your goal, you can subtract it from the total calories you burn in a day (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) to get the number of calories you should be eating. If you have an Apple Watch or a fitness tracker, this is easy. Mine is pretty consistently around 2,100 so I would take 2,100 - 583.33 = 1,516.67 calories per day I should be eating.
If you don’t have a fitness tracker to tell you how many calories you burn throughout the day, you can calculate it. First, you need to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is the amount of calories your body burns just by living. To get this I use the original Harris-Benedict equation:
BMR = 655.1 + (4.35 x Weight in lbs) + (4.7 x Height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Now that you have your BMR, you need to multiply it by an activity factor to account for any extra movement throughout the day. For this you want to gauge how active you are throughout the entire day, not just your workouts. I use the lowest activity factor for myself because even though I workout 5-6 times a week, I usually only burn 200 calories during a workout and the rest of the day I sit at a desk.
TDEE = BMR x Activity Level
Sedentary = 1.2
Lightly Active = 1.375
Moderately Active = 1.55
Very Active = 1.725
Now you have your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) which is the total amount of calories you burn throughout the day! You can subtract the calorie deficit from this to get your daily calorie goal! I’m not going to go into how to calculate the macro ratios because this would be way to long but to track I put this calorie number as my goal in the My Fitness Pal app. A few things to remember while tracking:
It only works if you correctly measure! Use a food scale. You will be shocked at how far off your portion estimates are.
Do not eat back exercise calories! This calculation accounts for those already. If you use My Fitness Pal, ignore the calories it gives you back.
Use this to be realistic about your goals!
I hope this makes sense and was helpful! Comment below with any questions! xx