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Right ill show you how to calculate roughly how much calories you need for either Weight Loss, Weight Gain or just simply Maintaining your Weight. Once you've realised that all-important basic equation..

Gain weight = eat more calories
Lose weight = eat less calories

..the next step to properly manage your food intake is to figure out exactly what your daily calorific needs are. Once you know this, you know how much food your body *really* needs and can add/ subtract foods as required. Basically, in order to succeed, you need to take the guess work out of it and know that everything that goes into your mouth and into your belly needs to be there.



Ok firstly we need to get our Bodyfat percentage. If you already know your bodyfat% then don't worry about trying to get it but if you don't then you may need to purchase a bodyfat calipers. These calipers should be able to calculate your bodyfat for you. If you roughly know your bodyfat% then thats fine also.

Secondly, you will need to know your bodyweight in either pounds or kilograms. Simply done by going on a scales. Weight is best taken in the morning (when you weigh your lightest) and its also good to take before bed (when you near your heaviest) as it's good to compare each day at both times to check progress. Ok once you have your bodyweight its into the next step.

Lastly, we need to find out Lean Body Mass. With our Bodyweight and Bodyfat% we can calculate it by using this Lean Body Mass Calculator. Once you have your Lean Body Mass we can now effectively figure out our calories.



So.. first off you need to figure out your resting metabolic rate (RMR) or the calories your body requires just to exist if you were lying down for 24 hours:
Age Men
10-18 (lean body mass (kg) * 17.5) + 651
19-30 (lbm (kg) * 15.3) + 679
31-60 (lbm (kg) * 11.6) + 879

Age Women
10-18 (lbm (kg) * 12.2) + 746
19-30 (lbm (kg) * 14.7) + 496
31-60 (lbm (kg) * 8.7) + 829

e.g for me, a 108kg 21 yo male its (90*15.3) + 679 = 2056 calories

3) Calculating your lifestyle daily energy needs

Activity level
mostly seated or standing RMR * 1.4
regular walking or equivalent RMR * 1.7
generally physically active RMR * 2.0

again for me its 2056 (calories from above) * 1.4 = 2878 calories

* This part generally what your worklife is like. I.e sitting in an office, hard labour etc


- 1 hour of Low Intensity Cardio (powerwalking, light jogging) equals 300 calories bruned
- 1 hour of High Intensity Cardio (sprinting, swimming etc) equals 600 calories burned
- 1 hour of Weight Training* equals approx 380 calories burned

* Don't forget that although cardio burns calories there and then, weight training can continue to burn calories 24 hours after doing it also. Cardio does not

Then estimate your daily exercise expenditure by working out how much exercise you do a week and divide by seven for an average daily value:
Weekly i do:
5 hours of weight training = approx 1900 calories
1 hour of High Intensity Cardio = 600 calories

Total Calories burned: 2500 / 7 (7 days - week) = 357 calories

So, add that onto my daily energy needs... 2878 + 357 = 3235

Therefore, my daily maintainence calories is 3235



Ok so we found out above that my Maintainence calories is : 3235

For Weight Loss: I need to reduce my calories by about 15% a day
3235 * 0.85 = 2750 calories

For Weight Gain: Increase your calorie intake by 20%
3235 * 1.20 = 3882 calories

Of course most importantly, make sure you meet your calorie needs from nutritious healthy sources as it makes all the difference. Again this is a rough estimate of calories but pretty much close to what people should be intaking will be all done with the above calculations.

Hope thats of help