How Many Calories Should I Eat?

That's what I wanted to know. I only knew that I'm supposed to eat 500 calories less per day to lose 1 lb per week. But I didn't really know how to figure out the right amount and how to figure in the amount of exercise.

Then I came across an equation that works. It's called the Harris-Benedict equation and you can read more about it on Wikipedia: Harris-Benedict equation

Wikipedia says:

The BMR calculation for women is:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Then you factor in the exercise you do:

Wikipedia says:

Little to no exercise Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.2

Light exercise (1-3 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.375

Moderate exercise (3-5 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.55

Heavy exercise (6-7 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.725

Very heavy exercise (twice per day, extra heavy workouts) Daily
calories needed= BMR x 1.9

Finally an answer!

My Own Starting Equation:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x 199) + (4.7 x 67.5) - ( 4.7 x 32)

BMR = 655 + 865.65 + 317.25 - 150.4 = 1687.5 BMR - calories I need to eat to remain same weight

1687.5 x 1.725 (I exercise 7 days a week) = 2910 calories to remain the same weight

But since I want to lose weight I'm going to eat 1000 calories less:

So: 1910 calories.

That sounds like a lot of calories to anyone who has ever dieted, but the body needs calories for fuel, and when you're exercising it needs enough calories so you don't become faint or dizzy.

Calories

When I started out I had no idea how many calories I should be consuming in order to lose weight, all I knew was that I was suppose to eat 500 less calories per day in order to lose 1 lb a week - less than what though was my question. The answer I found out is that it should be 500 calories less than my BMR.

BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate

BMR is how many calories your body needs to remain the same weight.

In essence the BMR figure is the amount of calories your body needs at it's resting state in order to fully function your vital organs.

Here is the equation to figure out your BMR:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + (4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Here's an example of my starting BMR:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x 199) + (4.7 x 67.5) - ( 4.7 x 32)

BMR = 655 + 865.65 + 317.25 - 150.4 = 1687.5 BMR - calories I need to eat to remain same weight

IMPORTANT: Because I was planning on adding exercise to my lifestyle I had to calculate how many calories I would be burning with the exercise in order to figure out how many calories I needed to eat.

I figured that my daily hour of exercise would burn about 400 calories

So I took my BMR and subtracted the calories I would burn:

1687.5 BMR calories
-400 calories burned during exercise
-----
1287.5

Since I wanted to reduce my caloric intake by a total of 500 calories a day in order to lose 1 lb per week I have to subtract another 100 calories to figure out how many calories I should be eating daily

So:
1287.5
-100
----
1187.5 calories I should eat per day at 199lbs, 5'7 in order to lose 1 lb per week

Once I lose weight I then use the same equation above only changing
the weight in pounds.

Here's the equation again:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + (4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

If you are interested in recording how many calories you are eating each day you may be interested in this Calorie Chart which lists the calories for many different foods.