How to Determine the Proper Caloric Intake for Leaning Out

Want to have a stomach like Usher, legs like Cameron Diaz, and arms like Jennifer Aniston? Then you need to work out and eat right. It is crucial that you do not overeat and that you eat the right kind of calories. The only way you will know for certain how many calories you need to eat per day, is to calculate your daily metabolic needs. This is easy to do. It is much harder sticking to the eating plan you prepare.

Instructions

Action Plan

• 1

  Find a website that will enable you to calculate your basal metabolic rate. You will find many online. The Harris-Benedict formula used on the website Healthrecipes.com is an accurate one. According to it, men should use the following figures to determine the basal metabolic rate (BMR): 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years).

  Women should calculate their BMR: 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years). One kg is 2.2 pounds and 2.54 cm is one inch.

• 2

  Determine your daily activity level and multiply that number with your BMR. Use the following numbers taken from Healthrecipes.com:

  1.2 if you do little or no exercise, desk job
  1.375 if you exercise lightly 1-3 days/wk
  1.55 if you do moderate exercise 3-5 days/wk
  1.725 if you do hard exercise 6-7 days/wk
  1.9 if you do hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon.

  The number you come up with is your daily required calories.

• 3

  Subtract 500 calories from your daily required calories and stick to that amount until you feel you have leaned out enough.

• 4

  Play around with the types of foods you are eating. Some people do better on a low-fat diet, while others do better on a low carbohydrate/high-protein diet. Most research points to a low-carbohydrate diet as more effective for leaning out. Still, this may not necessarily be the case for you.