Everyone burns calories at their own pace. This is because every one has his or her own unique metabolism rate. Hence it is quite difficult to find one size fit all kind of estimation for Calories requirement.
We need calories for all our basic purposes. We need calories to even breath and live. We burn calories both at rest and play. The only thing that differ between various activities is the rate at which we burn calories. So we burn much fewer calories when we are sitting and working on our computer as compared to when we are running or going upstairs. While sleeping, our bodies burn between 70-100 calories per hour. This is called our Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR.
Your calorie requirement is dependent on your objective. Are you looking forward to weight gain or weight loss. For people looking for weight gain the idea is to increase your calorie intake. When you increase your calorie intake, the excess calories get stored in your body. Depending on your nutrition type as well as your workouts, these excess calorie may get stored as fat or muscle. What we discuss out here is how to estimate the number of calories you need for maintenance level - your maintenance level is the amount of calories you need to stay at your current body weight. Simply, if you want to gain weight you will have to cross your maintenance level.
All the tools out there for finding your maintenance level just give you an approximate value. There is no formula to find your exact maintenance level. This can be attributed to the fact that your calorie consumption depends a lot on your day to day activity level. One of the most commonly used and preferred method of finding your maintenance level is called the Harris-Benedict Equation.
Harris-Benedict Equation is so popular because of the number of variables that it analyzes. It takes your sex, age, height, and weight into consideration. Other important factors like your heart breathing, activity level etc are also given their due importance. The additional energy requirement of these processes is also taken into account by the Harris-Benedict Equation.
The equation is identical for both men and women except that the numbers in equation change.
Here is a sample calculation for a guy named Jack:
Parameters
Age: 26
Weight: 175 Pounds
Height: 70 Inches
First multiple the weight in pounds with the number 13.8, we will call this value as X
175 pounds x 13.8 = 2,415.0;
Next multiply height by number 5, we will call this value as Y
70 inches x 5 = 350.0
Next multiply age by number 6.8, we will call this value as Z
26 x 6.8 = 176.8
Total Calories Needed = A + Y - Z + 67
Total Calories Needed = 2655.2
This is roughly the calories needed per day for Jack to maintain his current weight level.
Using the above equation you can find an estimate of the number of calories you require. However, remember Caloric requirements can change from person to person even when they have nearly identical parameters depending on their lifestyle. Caloric requirements can also change over the time period for the same person. You need to adjust accordingly. Also, you need to modify your calorie requirements as per your bodybuilding goals.
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