Ideal Calorie Calculation

How many diets have you been on? If you’ve been on more than one and you’re still struggling, then I’m hoping you’ve finally realized that DIETS DON’T WORK. Of course the next question is, “Then how do I lose weight?” Stephen Covey and every other highly paid motivational speaker say to begin with the end in mind, visualize where you want to be, and act as if you’re already there. How does this work in weight management, though? Well, I’m glad you asked.


Beginning with the end in mind means, first and foremost, to calculate your ideal calories. The key is to create a “new normal.” When you learn to eat, no less and no more, the number of calories needed to sustain your IDEAL weight, the body will acquiesce. For example, if I eat only enough calories to sustain 130 pounds, my body will eventually weigh 130 pounds. However, there is one caveat. If the body thinks it’s being starved, it WILL retaliate by lowering your metabolism. Pretty smart body, eh? Ah, but we have a secret weapon, and that is exercise.

Here is an example from my book of an ideal calorie calculation and explanation of how exercise fits in this picture:

Your basal metabolic rate – BMR - is the amount of calories your body requires to complete its basic functions, like keeping your heart beating and regulating your internal temperature. Knowing this rate is the key to calculating the number of calories you need to consume daily in order to maintain your desired weight. It is estimated that the body burns about 10 calories per day per pound. For example, a 150 lb person will burn 1500 calories just to keep alive. The next step is to approximate the number of calories burned in normal daily exercise. A person who sits all day is said to be sedentary, so the amount of calories burned would be about 20% of the BMR or 300 calories. A moderately active person would burn about 30% of the BMR, and an active person would burn about 40%. The final step is to add in the amount of calories burned by the digestive process, which is estimated to be about 10% for the general population. The amount of calories burned by a 150 lb person through the digestive process is 150. Adding the calculations together, we find that a 150 lb person requires 1950 calories per day to maintain that weight. Factors that can affect this calculation include age, gender, low calorie diets and medical conditions, such as those affecting the thyroid. However, the above calculation is a good start for most of us.

So, to calculate my ideal calories, I will start with my ideal weight of 130 pounds, and I will say that I am moderately active. So the calculation for my ideal calorie intake is as follows:

130 x 10 = 1300 for basic functions
1300 x 30% = 390 for moderate activity
1300 x 10% = 130 for digestion

Adding those together makes my ideal calorie intake to be 1,820 calories.

The next step is to determine how much exercise I need to do to lose two pounds per week. Bear in mind, the body will begin to lose weight simply because of reduced calories; however, to eat less than the calories required to maintain your ideal weight will backfire, so don’t do it. It takes 3500 calories to make up one pound, so to lose two pounds you would need to burn 7000 calories per week, or about 1000 calories per day. That’s quite a lot of calories, so let’s assume that just eating “normally,” your body will shed about a pound per week, so you need to burn 3500 calories, or about 500 calories per day. This is doable. You can do this with just 30 minutes per day on an Elliptical machine. The list of opportunities to burn calories is endless. Do some research on exercise and amount of calories burned. The internet is full of information on this topic.

As for me, I finally made my goal of 153 with a bonus of another pound of body fat gone. I really like my Omron body fat analyzer. It may not be perfectly accurate, but at least it shows me the change in body fat.