Calculating your calorie needs--metabolism
 

I thought I would share with you a website I found to calculate your basal metabolism. Basal metabolism is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to just to keep you breathing, heart beating, blood flowing, etc.. every day. Even if you were ill and just layed in bed all day you need this many calories to keep you going. If you know this number and you eat a few hundred less than this daily you WILL lose weight. Actually I eat my basal metabolism amount because we all do more than lay in bed all day right??
Mine says 1900 is my basal metabolism calories based on age height and weight. With normal activities my calorie needs are 2400 calories. If I ate 2400 or so I would maintain. If I ate 1900 which is just enough to keep me going I will lose since my body will have to pull some calories from "storage". I hope this makes sense!!
the website is www.room42.com

just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on basal metabolism calculator and input your numbers!!

let me know how you liked it!!
lorelei

Looks like I misposted my reply to this thread on the Index thread.

I rechecked the metabolism calculator using 20 years younger and it only made a difference of 78 calories. There goes that excuse! In the other post, I had thanked you because this post was so helpful to me. I was using 2400 calories as my base for my weight (10 cal per pd) and was shocked to find it's only 1648.

So I'm pleased and grateful I've lost what I've lost. Hope for improvement now.

I've also been eating over mine, not by a lot though... 2222.6 is my basal, and I've been eating 2400 as my max...I don't always go for my max though...soooo, I haven't been doing too badly :)

Anagram-I am glad it helped you out. I think the more info you have the better. I had always heard 10 calories a pound for your daily calories too. If you weigh 200 then you need 2000 calories a day to maintain that weight. I did read somewhere else though that once you get to a certain weight you cant go by that because a highly overweight body has a lot of fat and fat doesnt need as much energy (calories) to maintain it's weight as a highly muscled body does. I hope that made sense! Anyway, I will use these calculators as my guide.

PNG-You sound like me. I always say 2000 is my max but usually dont get that much when I am "serious" (trying hard to lose). Lately I have been getting 1700-1800 a day. good luck fellow veggie!

I hope everyone checks it out-it can be an eye opener.
happy Sunday all~

strange.. it says I should eat less then 1609 calories a day! that seems too low to me. It also said I need 60 grams of protein a day, which is much higher then Jiffypop's formula (I think it was Jiffy)
Right now ww has a range of 24-29 points.. a point is roughly 55 calories each.. or 1320 calories (min) to 1595 calories (max).. so I guess it does make sense. What did you guys put down for activity? I put down ordinary.. but I was tempted to put down couch potatoe!!

Well, here is my full results, for ordinary, which, h=now that I look again, my low is too low for me... hehe, you also have to remember that I am 6 foot tall, soooo...

2222.6 calories per day is your Basal Caloric Rate. This is:
no more then 74.087 grams of fat (30%) for your Basal Caloric Rate
83.348 grams of protein (15%) for your Basal Caloric Rate
305.61 grams of carbohydrate (55%) for your Basal Caloric Rate


2889.4 calories per day recommended for your Active Caloric Rate. This is:
no more then 96.313 grams of fat (30%) for your Active Caloric Rate
108.35 grams of protein (15%) for your Active Caloric Rate
397.29 grams of carbohydrate (55%) for your Active Caloric Rate


No less then 1722.6 calories per day recommended for safe consistent Weight Loss. This is:
no more then 57.420 grams of fat (30%) for your Weight Loss Caloric Rate
64.598 grams of protein (15%) for your Weight Loss Caloric Rate
236.86 grams of carbohydrate (55%) for your Weight Loss Caloric Rate
At this safe consistent Weight Loss Caloric Rate,
you will lose 1 pound every 7 Days


Maybe I'll start doing the fitday thing again, and see if I can get in those ranges :D

I didn't know you were 6 feet tall... I'm a midget next to you PNG :lol:

Yup, my mom is 5 foot tall...hehe, so you can just picture her out with me... and I've shrunk 2 inches since I've last seen her, so now she'll think she grew :D :lol:

Slimdown, I calculted first as a couch potato then as ordinary. Was not a lot of difference in my case.

Mine was ordinary activity too. Even if you do "couch potato" the basal number doesnt change-the max amount changes because you are doing more (or less) activity.

PNG-6 feet tall?? You would make me feel short and I am 5'8. I am curious about the shrinking?? Do you mean you thought you were 6'2 before?

happy monday!
lorelei

I did this once on another website (I'm going to look at this one right now!) and I put in my optimum weight (160). I used that to build my current food plan, which is at 1800 calories a day.

Debbers-I have seen others too where you put in your goal weight and it tells you the calories needed a day to maintain that. Like 150 pounds is 2000 a day for example. So I figure if it will maintain 150 pounds at 2000 then I KNOW a 260 pound person will lose with that amount!
I think I have a "thing" for the numbers!!
happy wednesday all!
lorelei

This is great. Helps me look at my intake and get a better grasp of where I am. Thanks. Thnk I will share this with my sis. She is dieting too.