Caloric Requirements for the Bedridden

Caloric requirements for people forced to be bedridden depends on age, size, and gender. You can determine how many calories you need by calculating your height, weight, and activity level. A 65-year-old man who is bedridden, weighing 200 pounds and standing six feet tall, will require 1,792 calories per day.

Factors

• There is no magic number of calories for everyone who is bedridden. People who are bedridden do not need extra calories for physical activity, but they do need appropriate nutrition. A younger person will generally need more calories than an older person. A man will need more than a woman, and a bigger person will need more than a smaller one in order to maintain a normal weight.

Considerations

• It is also important to consider the reason why a person is bedridden. For example, if a woman is bedridden during or following a pregnancy, she will need more calories than a woman the same age and size who is in a coma. Usually a pregnant woman needs about 300 additional calories every day, starting in her second trimester. Also, if a person is bedridden because he or she is healing from injury or trauma, that can require more energy, hence a greater caloric intake.

Caloric Intake

• Here's how to figure out how many calories you need to keep your systems running: For women, multiply body weight by 10. This is how many calories are needed to maintain body weight while bedridden. For men, multiply body weight by 11.

Age

• After age 25 or 30, our metabolism slows down. This means that our bodies require fewer calories. For every decade after 30, you should reduce your caloric intake by between three and five percent. For example, if you are a 150-pound woman and found that you need 1,500 calories while bedridden at 30 years old, you will only need about 1,350 calories a day at 40 years of age.

Warning

• Signs that a person is not getting enough calories or is not getting enough of the appropriate nutrients may include: dull or thinning hair, nail issues, enlarged and bleeding gums, wasting of skeletal muscle, and significant weight loss. Significant weight loss usually means about five percent loss of body weight in 30 days, or 10 percent loss of body weight in six months.