How to Calculate Calorie Allowance

Knowing your daily caloric allowance is helpful to maintain your current weight, or if you wish to lose or gain weight. You can calculate your caloric allowance with the Harris-Benedict equation. This formula uses your sex, age, height and weight to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the number of calories your body needs to function during a 24-hour rest period. A calculation combining your energy level and BMR will reveal your daily caloric allowance.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

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Instructions

• 1

  Convert your height to centimeters and your weight to kilograms. Calculate your height in centimeters by taking your height in inches and multiplying it by 2.54. Calculate your weight in kilograms by taking your weight in pounds and dividing it by 2.2.

• 2

  Apply the following formula to find out your BMR:

  Men: (5 x height in cm) + (13.7 x weight in kg) - (6.8 x age in years) + 66

  Women: (1.8 x height in cm) + (9.6 x weight in kg) - (4.7 x age in years) + 655

• 3

  Figure out which number is equivalent to your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Look at how much exercise you get on a weekly basis and match that to the following list:

  Sedentary lifestyle with little to no exercise: 1.2

  Lightly active lifestyle with one to three days of exercise per week: 1.375

  Moderately active lifestyle with three to five days of exercise per week: 1.55

  Very active lifestyle with six to seven days of exercise per week: 1.725

  Extremely active lifestyle with exercise twice a day (professional athletes): 1.9

• 4

  Multiply your TDEE by your BMR. The number you get is equivalent to the number of calories you can consume on a daily basis to maintain your current weight. Understand that an athlete burns more calories than a person with a sedentary job does. Therefore, their caloric allowance on a daily basis will differ significantly.

• 5

  Adjust your diet and exercise routine to reach your goal, whether it is weight maintenance, weight loss or weight gain. Reducing calories drastically will trigger your body to go into survival mode, making it hold on to fat instead of burning it. Instead, subtract 15 to 20 percent from your daily caloric allowance to start losing weight gradually. Consume more calories than your daily caloric allowance if you want to gain weight.