Do you plan to lose weight and eat healthier? Or do you want to gain some extra weight and develop muscles? The correct calories per day depend on your goals as well as your gender and age group. To get started, this article gives you a detailed insight about your optimal amount of calories per day, so that you can make reliable choices in order to achieve your goals.
What are calories?
Before we provide you with how many calories per day you should eat, let’s start with the basics. Do you know what calories actually are? To keep it simple, calories refer to the amount of energy in the food or drink. Therefore, when looking at the amount of calories, you are actually looking at the energy that food provides.
The energy inside your food is measured in calories or joules. When we talk about calories per day, we usually refer to kilocalories (1000 calories) or kilojoules (1000 joules). The units can be converted into each other:
- 1 kcal corresponds to about 4.2 kJ.
- 10 kJ correspond to about 2.4 kcal
Different kinds of calories and their effects
Even though calories are an important factor when it comes to your nutrition, they don’t say much about a healthy balanced diet. For this, you will have to take a look further. Your body is receiving energy mainly from three groups of nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
These are also known as macronutrients, as they are found in large amounts in your diet. Unlike other nutrients such as trace elements or vitamins, macronutrients contain energy. Another source of energy is alcohol. Dietary fibres can also provide energy to a smaller extent.
Macronutrients, alcohol and fibre provide different amounts of energy to your body:
- Fats: 9 kcal per gram (38 kJ per gram)
- Alcohol: 7 kcal per gram (29 kJ per gram)
- Carbohydrates: 4 kcal per gram (17 kJ per gram)
- Proteins: 4 kcal per gram (17 kJ per gram)
- Fibre: 2 kcal per gram (8 kJ per gram)
How to calculate your daily calorie needs
So how many calories per day do you need? To answer this question more specifically, we need to further consider what “need” specifically means. For this, we will take a closer look at the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) as well as Active Metabolic Rate (AMR).
Step 1: Calculate the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs when it is at rest. Basically, this number tells you how many calories you need per day even if you are doing nothing, as even simple activities such as breathing or keeping your body functions up require energy to work properly.
If you want to know how much your body is burning while you are resting, you can use the popular Mifflin-St Jeor Equation:
- Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
- Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161
Note: There are many ways to calculate your calories per day. Besides the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation, you can also try the Harris-Benedict Equation as an alternative.
Step 2: Calculate the Active Metabolic Rate (AMR)
It should be clear that your Basal Metabolic Rate is not enough to plan your meal delivery, as your work and leisure activities add a huge amount of energy that your body needs on a daily basis.
As this formula mainly depends on your habits, you need to multiply your BMR with one the following values:
- Sedentary (little or no exercise): AMR = BMR x 1.2
- Lightly active (exercise 1–3 days/week): AMR = BMR x 1.375
- Moderately active (exercise 3–5 days/week): AMR = BMR x 1.55
- Active (exercise 6–7 days/week): AMR = BMR x 1.725
- Very active (hard exercise 6–7 days/week): AMR = BMR x 1.9
You can also use our diet survey to help calculate your calorie needs.
How many calories should you eat on average?
While some people prefer to calculate their specific BMR and AMR values to determine how many calories per day they need, others prefer a simpler method. As nobody is the same, you can rely on estimated numbers to get a good picture about your needed calories per day. When looking at these numbers, the main factors to take into account are your gender and age group as well as your average level of physical activity.
|
Gender |
Age |
Sedentary |
Moderately Active |
Active |
|
Child |
2-3 |
1,000 |
1,000-1,400 |
1,000-1,400 |
|
Female |
4-9 |
1,200 |
1,400-1,600 |
1,400-1,800 |
|
9-13 |
1,600 |
1,600-2,000 |
1,800-2,200 |
|
|
14-18 |
1,800 |
2,000 |
2,400 |
|
|
19-30 |
2,000 |
2,000-2,200 |
2,400 |
|
|
31-50 |
1,800 |
2,000 |
2,200 |
|
|
51+ |
1,600 |
1,800 |
2,000-2,200 |
|
|
Male |
4-9 |
1,400 |
1,400-1,600 |
1,600-2,000 |
|
9-13 |
1,800 |
1,800-2,200 |
2,000-2,600 |
|
|
14-18 |
2,200 |
2,400-2,800 |
2,800-3,200 |
|
|
19-30 |
2,400 |
2,600-2,800 |
3,000 |
|
|
31-50 |
2,200 |
2,400-2,600 |
2,800-3,000 |
|
|
51+ |
2,000 |
2,200-2,400 |
2,400-2,800 |
How many calories should you eat to lose weight?
If you cut about 500 calories per day, you might be able to lose up to 1 pound per week. However, this is highly dependent on your activity and individual body type. It is recommended to start a healthy diet in combination with muscle training, as your goal is to lose excess fat. Further, once you have started your diet, you might find that you need to further decrease your calories per day to keep successfully losing weight.
How many calories should you eat to gain weight?
While losing weight requires a calorie deficit, you need to eat more calories than your body burns if you plan to gain weight. Aim at 10-15 % more calories per day. If you want to make faster gains, you can also aim for a higher intake. It is estimated that 7,000 kcal extra per week, helps you gain 1 kg in a week (e.g. 1,000 extra kcal per day).
How many calories should you eat to gain muscle?
If you want to gain muscle mass, you need to increase your daily calorie intake. The correct amount depends on your age, gender and sporting routine. People with a lower body weight might get started with around 3,000 calories per day. Next to your calories, make sure to choose protein rich meals and develop a fitness routine in order to achieve your goals.
How to reduce calorie intake and eat healthy?
Now that you know everything about calories, all you need to do is change your dietary habits. We know, this is much easier said than done and requires a lot of research and preparation. Therefore, we have developed a customised diet survey, which takes into account your diet goals and nutrition goals.
Just after a couple of easy questions, we will calculate how many calories you need daily based on your answers and send you a personalised weight loss guide so that you can get ready to achieve your goals. You are sure to receive a personal weight loss meal delivery with all important macronutrients that perfectly fit your requirements.
FAQ
How many calories do you burn in a day?
Depending on age and gender, adults burn roughly 2,000 to 2,800 calories per day at a moderate activity level.
What happens when calories are too low?
When you have a calorie deficit, you start losing weight. Make sure to not to reduce your calories too much per day, as otherwise your metabolism slows down, which can hamper your diet plans.
What food has no calories?
While there is a wide selection of low calorie foods on the market, only water possesses zero calories.
What are high-calorie foods to avoid?
If you plan to lose weight, avoid high-calorie foods such as fast foods, processed meats, desserts, candies, sugary drinks or alcohol.
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