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How to Calculate Calories Needed for Women

To maintain or adjust your weight, you need to know the number of calories your body requires to sustain itself and your activities. The calories required to sustain basic bodily functions is called the basal metabolic rate, or BMR. This figure does not take into account calories required for your daily activities, so you need to adjust the total by multiplying the BMR by a modifier, specific to your activity level.

Things You'll Need

  • Weight scale
  • Tape measure
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Instructions

    • 1

      Weigh yourself on a scale and multiply the figure by 4.35. Add this figure to 655. As an example, a 120-pound woman would multiply 120 by 4.35 and then add 655. This gives you 1,177.

    • 2

      Stand with your back against the wall and your shoes off. Use a ruler to mark your height on the wall, and then measure the distance from the ground to that mark. This is your height in inches. Multiply this figure by 4.7 and add the product to the previous amount. In the example, a 68-inch woman would multiply 68 times 4.7 to produce 320. Adding this product to the previous total gives you 1,497.

    • 3

      Multiply your age by 4.7 and subtract this product from the previous total to calculate your BMR. In the example, a 20-year-old woman would multiple 20 times 4.7 to get 94. Subtracting this figure from the previous total gives you a BMR of 1,403 calories.

    • 4

      Multiply your BMR by your activity multiplier. If you rarely exercise, your modifier would be 1.2. One to three times per week of light exercise would give you a modifier of 1.375. Moderate exercise or sports three to five days per week offers a modifier of 1.55. A very active lifestyle with six or seven days of hard exercise will require a modifier of 1.725. If you are a professional athlete or physical laborer, such as a construction worker, then use 1.9 as the modifier.

      In the example, if the woman was very active, but not a professional athlete, you would multiply her 1,403 BMR by 1.725, which gives her a required daily calorie requirement of 2,420 calories.

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