How Many Calories You Need Daily
Medically reviewed by Elizabeth Barnes, RDN
Estimated daily calorie needs range from 1,600–2,400 calories for adult women and 2,000–3,200 calories for adult men. The exact amount varies depending on factors such as age, height, weight, and activity levels.
This article reviews how to determine your daily caloric needs as well as guidance for weight loss or gain, the pros and cons of counting calories, and how to reach your goals.
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How to Calculate Your Daily Caloric Needs
Figuring out how many calories you need each day may prove tricky sometimes. The amount will vary from person to person.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans estimates caloric needs range from 1,600–2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000–3,200 calories per day for adult men depending on age and activity levels. The following uses the cited source's terms for sex or gender.
One method for calculating your individual calorie needs is with a formula called the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation. This equation estimates your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the number of calories your body burns at rest. It is the base level of energy required to maintain basic life-sustaining functions such as breathing, digesting food, and circulating blood throughout the body.
The Mifflin-St. Jeor equation determines your RMR by your sex, weight, height, and age.
Step 1: Calculate your RMR:
For females: (10 x weight in kilograms) + (6.25 x height in centimeters) – (5 x age in years) – 161 = RMR
For males: (10 x weight in kilograms) + (6.25 x height in centimeters) – (5 x age in years) + 5 = RMR
After figuring out your RMR, adjust the number based on your usual daily energy expenditure or activity level. This is your active metabolic rate (AMR).
You can calculate your AMR by multiplying your RMR by an assigned number representing different levels of activity, ranging from 1.2 for very sedentary to 1.9 for very active.
Step 2: Calculate your AMR:
Sedentary (little or no exercise): AMR = RMR x 1.2
Lightly active (exercise one to three days/week): AMR = RMR x 1.375
Moderately active (exercise three to five days/week): AMR = RMR x 1.55
Active (exercise six to seven days/week): AMR = RMR x 1.725
Very active (intensive exercise six to seven days/week): AMR = RMR x 1.9
Your AMR represents the amount of calories you need to take in each day to maintain your current weight.
What Is a Calorie?
A calorie (or kilocalorie) is a common unit of energy for expressing the nutritional value of foods.
Originally, a calorie was defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree.
Today, calories are most often referred to as measurements of the calorific, heating, or metabolizing value of foods.
Specific Guidance for Weight Loss or Gain
If you want to lose weight, you need to increase your physical activity level or decrease the amount of calories you consume. To gain weight, you need to take in more calories than your AMR.
Of course, weight loss or gain is more nuanced than this. However, at a basic level, looking at calories in versus calories out is a good place to start.
Calories to Lose Weight
The best way to lose weight and keep it off is with a realistic and sustainable approach. Drastically cutting calories may help you lose weight in the short term, but you will most likely not be able to maintain it in the long run.
A reasonable weight loss goal is to lose about 1–2 pounds per week. This may be achieved by creating a caloric deficit of 500–1,000 calories daily. This may calculate a low-calorie diet of 1,200–1,800 calories per day for adult women and 1,500–2,000 calories per day for adult men depending on their baseline AMR.
That 1,200 calories is at the low end of the recommended calorie range for adult women is important to note. Though a 1,200-calorie diet may be appropriate for some people in the short term, it is not enough calories for most adults.
Subtracting 500–1,000 calories for 1–2 pounds of weight loss might bring you under the 1,200-calorie minimum recommendation for women or the 1,500-calorie minimum recommendation for men. But do not consume fewer than 1,200 calories if you're a woman or 1,500 calories if you're a man.
Reducing your calorie intake too much and for too long may slow down your metabolism through a process called adaptive thermogenesis. This “feast or famine” response is the body’s natural reaction to decreased intake over time, holding onto stored energy to maintain health.
Combining physical activity with a reduced-calorie diet is recommended to help maintain lean muscle mass as you lose weight. This approach also helps instill healthy lifestyle behaviors that you can continue after you reach your weight goals.
Calories to Gain Weight or Muscle
Increasing calorie intake by upping your intake of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats may help you gain weight. Though an overall increase in calories will help you gain weight, focusing on where your calories come from is important.
Choosing to eat a bunch of cookies, ice cream, candies, donuts, potato chips, soda, and other “junk” foods will help increase your calories, but it doesn’t provide a lot of beneficial nutrients and may even be harmful to your health.
These foods are often high in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium, which can have negative health effects when consumed in excess.
If you are underweight and need to gain weight or want to gain muscle, aim for 300–500 extra calories per day for a slow weight gain or 700–1,000 extra daily calories for faster weight gain.
Focusing on protein intake has been shown to increase lean muscle mass. Traditionally, 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is recommended for physically active healthy adults.
For muscle gain, increasing protein intake up to 1.2–2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day may be safe for healthy adults. Along with increasing high-quality, lean protein foods, including healthy fats and carbohydrates can help with weight and muscle gain.
As always, consult a healthcare professional before changing your diet or eating pattern.
Pros and Cons of Counting Calories
Counting calories can be a good tool for some people when it comes to losing or gaining weight; however, it isn’t for everyone. Below are some potential pros and cons of counting calories.
Pros
Advantages of counting calories may include:
Provides insight into your diet. Counting calories helps you become more aware of just how many calories you are taking in. This way, you learn where you may need to cut back or add certain foods.
Helps you focus on the nutrients in your food. To find the calories of a food, you'll most likely be looking at the nutrition facts label. You can find out what nutrients you may lack in your diet or those you get in too much abundance.
Keeps you accountable. It's like having an accountability partner in your pocket, which can help you manage your calorie intake to meet your nutritional goals.
May lead to healthier food choices. Having to log all your food choices and becoming more conscious about what you're eating may motivate you to opt for more nutrient-dense foods over those filled with empty calories (foods low in nutrients but high in calories).
Cons
Drawbacks of counting calories may include:
May not be accurate. Not all foods you eat may be in the database you are searching, especially if it is a combination of foods. It may also be difficult to estimate portion sizes for some foods if you don’t have a food scale. Additionally, the calorie count will be off if you don’t enter everything that passes through your lips.
Can be time-consuming and difficult. Trying to remember to enter all of your meals, snacks, and beverages into an app can be hard if you don’t do it shortly after eating. And users who aren't tech-savvy may struggle to navigate it.
Can trigger disordered eating behaviors. Some people may become obsessed with counting calories and scrutinizing everything they eat to the point that it becomes unhealthy.
Can take the joy out of eating. When eating turns to analyzing everything you eat, the pleasure of eating can fade away and cause unneeded stress and anxiety over food.
May lead you to focus on quantity over quality. Though calories in versus calories out may be what you need for weight management, the nutrient composition of those calories is important in the grand scheme of your overall health.
Low- and High-Calorie Foods
Knowing some lower- and higher-calorie foods can help you in meal planning when tracking calories. Below are foods that fall into each of these categories. Keep in mind that some foods from the higher-calorie foods list may fit into a healthy, balanced meal plan.
Lower-calorie foods include:
Fresh fruits, including berries, citrus fruits, watermelon, and apples
Cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower
Leafy green vegetables, including spinach, arugula, chard, kale, and romaine lettuce
Other vegetables, such as cucumbers, celery, beets, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and summer squash
Plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
Low-fat cottage cheese
Low-fat or nonfat milk
Broth-based soups
Eggs
Popcorn
Higher-calorie foods include:
Butter, shortening, and lard
Plant and vegetable oils, including olive, avocado, walnut, sunflower, and canola oils
Nuts and nut butters
Seeds such as sunflower, flax, pumpkin, and chia seeds
Red and processed meats
Dried fruit
Trail mix
Granola
Whole-fat dairy products
Cheese
Deep-fried foods
Sweets and desserts, such as chocolate, candy, ice cream, pastries, and baked goods
Sugar-sweetened beverages
Related: Why Calorie Density Matters
Big Picture: How to Get to Your Goals
Consistency is key when it comes to achieving your goals, but keep in mind that consistency does not mean perfection. There will be times when you are doing great, and there will be other times when you fall off track. Recognize those times and find ways to get back on course.
Remember the big picture and always strive for that end goal. Little changes in the short term add up to big progress in the long run.
Understand that weight loss or weight gain is not always linear. The scale will have its ups and downs throughout your weight loss (or gain) journey. Body weight tends to fluctuate depending on certain factors, such as hydration status, sodium intake, where a person is in their menstrual cycle, certain medications, bowel patterns, and physical activity.
Realize weight loss is about realistic lifestyle changes. Weight loss isn’t just about cutting calories and being on a diet to reach a certain weight. To get to and maintain weight loss, you must make sustainable lifestyle changes or you will fall back into old habits once the “diet” is over.
Find a support system. Whether you are trying to gain or lose weight, having a support system of people to cheer you on can make all the difference. They can help hold you accountable, help you navigate barriers and roadblocks, engage in healthy behaviors with you, and be there for you in both failures and successes.
Apps to Help with Calorie Counting
If you think an app would be helpful to your calorie-counting goals, here are a few to try:
Lose It!
MyFitnessPal
Calory
FatSecret
Cronometer
MyNetDiary
Summary
The number of calories you need each day varies from person to person based on age, sex, height, weight, and activity level.
To lose weight, you must take in fewer calories than you burn. To gain weight, you need to consume more calories than you burn. Protein is an important nutrient to increase for muscle gain, as are healthy fats and carbohydrates.
A realistic weight loss goal is to lose 1–2 pounds per week by decreasing your caloric intake by about 500 to 1,000 calories daily without going under 1,200 calories per day for women or 1,500 calories per day for men. Adding 500–1,000 calories per day may be appropriate for gaining weight.
Benefits to calorie counting include accountability, insight into your diet, and the possibility of making healthier food choices. Disadvantages include the chance of inaccuracy, how much time it can take up, how difficult it can be, and the chance it may trigger disordered eating behaviors. It may lead you to focus on the quantity of your calories instead of the quality of your diet.
Lower-calorie foods include many fruits, vegetables, lean meats, low-fat dairy, whole grains, and legumes. Healthy, higher-calorie foods include fatty fish, whole-fat dairy, starchy vegetables, avocados, olives, nuts, seeds, plant-based oils, and dried fruit.
Keeping the big picture in mind when working toward better health can help you achieve your long-term goals.
Read the original article on Verywell Health.
