How Many Calories is Too Many Calories?

If you're looking to lose some weight then you probably already realize that you need to know what your ideal daily calorie intake should be. You need to know how many calories is too many calories, and how many is just right for you. The right amount can help you keep fit and healthy and make sure that you don't pile on the pounds because you are eating too much.

For some people, working out your appropriate daily calorie level can be real hard. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites out there that will claim to tell you what your ideal calorie intake should be. Sound like a solution? Well, good as it sounds this might not always work for you. The problem is that not all of these websites will tell you the same ideal calorie level. Some are simply estimates based on your current weight.

So, you might take the first website's answer, pick a calorie intake and stick with that. But what if it's too low for you? Chances are then you'll simply feel hungry all the time and overeat to compensate. You'll also stand the chance of actually feeling sick as your body won't be getting enough calories to keep it going. And, if the number you get is too high, then your calorie intake will be too high as well, and...you've guessed it, you won't lose the weight you want to lose because you'll essentially be overeating.

You can easily find general figures that tell you how many daily calories men and women should be eating. These are likely to be accurate in some situations but they don't take the whole picture into consideration. So, for example, they won't necessarily include your build or physique and they won't look at how your lifestyle affects your overall calorie count. Burning calories by being active may mean that you need more calories just to get by than if you spend your life on the couch watching TV.

So, it seems logical to try to work out your daily calorie intake in a way that takes into account these factors. Many people find that the Harris-Benedict calorie calculation formula helps here. This calculation of calories is based on you as an individual and your lifestyle. So, how does it work? What you do here is work out your daily calorie intake by using a simple calculation to establish your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) figure to start with. This will tell you how many calories your body needs, simply to keep ticking over, even before we consider any level of exercise at all.

If you are a male then you work out your BMR this way:

• 66 + (6.23 x your weight in pounds) + (12.7 x your height in inches) - (6.8 x your age in years)

If you are a female then you use the following calculation:

• 655 + (4.35 x your weight in pounds) + (4.7 x your height in inches) - (4.7 x your age in years)

But, and this is a big but, the advantage to this system is that you must also adapt it to your lifestyle in terms of how active you are. This gives you a much more accurate calorie intake as a whole. To do this you need to think about much exercise you do:

• Sedentary. None/very little/desk job -- multiply your BMR figure by 1.2
• Lightly active. Basic exercise a couple of days/times a week -- multiply your BMR figure by 1.375
• Moderately Active. Exercise/sports 4 or so times a week -- multiply your BMR figure by 1.55
• Very Active. More than 6 times/days a week -- multiply your BMR figure by 1.725
• Extremely active. Virtually every day, more than once a day or doing intensive training --multiply your BMR figure by 1.9

So, if you are a female aged 35, who weighs 140 pounds and is 63 inches tall...your BMR would work out at about 1,400 and if you were moderately active you would multiply this by 1.55 to get a total daily calorie needs figure of 2,170.

Now unfortunately, there are a number of "acceptable" methods to calculate your daily calorie needs including the Hamwi formula, the Robinson formula, the Miller formula, the BMI based formula... as well as the Harris-Benedict formula we have used above, and each one produces a slightly different result and can take into account different factors as well. There is no exact formula unfortunately that will be right for everyone.

So, back to the original question...how many calories is too many calories? If you are trying to lose weight then the daily calorie needs calculation above will be too many. If you are trying to gain weight then too many calories will be based on the growth level you want, and your calorie level will need to be higher. And if you're trying to stay at the same weight level month after month, then exceeding your daily calorie number for your activity level will prove to be "too many".

Yet again, the answer varies for everyone. We are individuals and our calorie needs differ as well, so make sure that you calculate your level based on your set of information and don't simply work off a global average.

If you want some helpful suggestions then take a look at some of the solutions suggested at http://www.YouCanLoseWeightToday.com The ideas presented there might just help get your body working to lose weight fast for you and lessen your cravings during the process!

H Woolston

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