How Many Calories a Day Do I Need?

The number of calories you need to eat is closely dependant on:

• Your Gender
• Your Age
• Your Height
• Your Weight
• Your Activity Level
• Your Goals

Your body burns a certain number of calories a day just to sustain life, get through daily activities, repair and regenerate, digest food and etc. If you eat just enough to provide the body with the energy needed to get these done, you will neither gain nor lose weight. You are said to be in Maintenance Mode

If you consume more calories than you burn in maintenance mode, you will put on weight. The more surplus of calories you have a day, the more weight you put on and the faster you put the weight on.

If you consume less calories than you burn in maintenance mode, you will lose weight. The more deficit of calories you have a day, the faster you lose weight. Unfortunately, this is not the "secret" you were perhaps looking for to boost your weight loss efforts. If you eat a highly restricted calories diet for a prolonged length of time, your body will start to break your muscles down and consume for energy. This is not ideal. This can lead to loss of function and loss of activity and muscular atrophy. As a general rule, do not consume any less than 1200 calories a day

Every 3500 calories consumed is eqivalent to 1lb. If you consume 3500 calories a week more than you need to maintain your weight, you will add 1lb of weight on. Also, if you consume 3500 calories a week (500 calories a day) less than what you need to maintain your weight, you will lose 1lb of weight per week.

You can use the calculator below to calculate your daily calorie requirements:

Keep in mind, nothing replaces a good customized plan done by a knowledgeable trainer