Reviewed by: Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD
Calorie Control—Whether Losing Weight or Building Muscle—seem simple.
After all, it’s just math…right?
Sort of. But it’s tricky.
Your body is a complex machine.To determine how many calories your What the body needs to achieve your goals, you need to first understand how your The body burns (and stores) calories.
Want to know more about how your body processes calories? continue reading.
What is the average daily caloric intake required?
The concept of calories is based on tangible science: One calorie is equal to the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.
Caloric needs vary from person to person and depend on various factors. These factors include your sex at birth, age, height and overall lifestyle.
Generally speaking, adults need about 1,600 to 3,000 calories per day.
(Yes, that’s a large range. Obviously, your personal needs may vary.)
The food you eat and the amount of it determines the number of calories you consume.
Eating more calories than your body uses can lead to weight gain getwhile consuming less calories than the body consumes in terms of body weight loss-Includes fat and ultimately muscle mass.
Choosing foods based on calorie count is a common practice among people trying to lose weight or maintain weight. Calories come from macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and other sources such as alcohol.
The timing and frequency of meals also affects energy use, as the body’s energy expenditure fluctuates throughout the day.
What factors affect how many calories you need each day?
As we mentioned above, there are several factors that affect your daily calorie needs. Let’s take a closer look at these factors and how they work together.
1. Age
As you age, your metabolism naturally slows down, so your body needs fewer calories.
This is why teenagers in their active growth phase generally need more calories than middle-aged adults.
2. Height and weight
Your body dimensions (height and weight) and body composition (muscle to fat ratio) play a role in calorie calculations.
Those who are larger (either taller or have a higher percentage of muscle mass) may burn more calories at rest and require more calories to maintain daily needs.
3. Gender and Hormones
Sex and hormonal differences at birth significantly affect caloric needs.
Men generally have higher muscle mass and faster metabolisms and therefore require more calories.
Women may experience changes in appetite and energy expenditure throughout their menstrual period due to hormonal fluctuations.
4. Activity level
Your lifestyle and activity level have a huge impact on caloric needs.
Those who work in physically demanding jobs or engage in strenuous exercise naturally burn more calories and require a higher intake to maintain energy balance.
Of course, the opposite is true for those who work sedentary jobs (e.g. desk jobs) and do not deliberately exercise.
5. Medical Conditions and Medications
Certain health conditions, such as thyroid disease, can affect your metabolism and change your caloric needs.
In addition, some medications may affect appetite, energy expenditure, or nutrient absorption, further affecting your daily calorie needs.
6. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Your basal metabolic rate represents the amount of energy your body uses at rest to perform basic functions like breathing, circulating blood, and maintaining body temperature.
BMR is affected by genetics, muscle mass, and age, all of which affect your daily caloric needs.
We’ll discuss BMR and how it works with other body processes in more detail below.
7. Goals
Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain your current physique, your goals will determine your caloric needs.
Weight loss typically involves a controlled reduction in caloric intake, while muscle gain requires additional calories to support growth and repair.
What processes affect how you burn calories?
Here are the various ways your body burns calories.
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
Eat means The amount of energy your body expends during conscious physical activitysuch as walking, running, lifting weights, fitness classes, or any other movement you incorporate into your daily routine.
Contrary to common belief, EAT accounts for only a small portion of total energy expenditure, averaging about five to ten percent.
(As with all things, this percentage may vary.)
While EAT is undoubtedly beneficial to overall health and well-being for most people, its direct impact is often small; the wider context of overall energy expenditure is more important.
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) includes Calories burned during daily physical activity outside of structured exercise.
This is the amount of energy your body uses when you engage in activities such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, or even fidgeting (that are not part of a planned exercise or exercise).
Although NEAT is unspectacular, it has huge potential to affect metabolic rate and calorie burning. NEAT can contribute 15% to 30% of your daily caloric expenditure. While it doesn’t replace vigorous exercise, it is an important part of the calories you burn each day.
Environmental conditions, genetics, job type and lifestyle can all cause NEAT to vary from person to person. Sedentary jobs and active occupations can result in significant differences in daily calories burned.
Research highlights NEAT’s role in promoting health. A study that followed more than 12,000 women for 12 years showed that activities such as fidgeting can mitigate the risks associated with prolonged sedentary behavior.
If you want to increase your NEAT levels, some small changes may help, such as choosing a standing desk instead of sitting while working (which will burn more calories per hour).
NEAT’s impact goes beyond calorie burning, it encourages a lifestyle that values movement throughout the day. This can affect your overall energy balance and may even affect your long-term quality of life.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR, often called “resting metabolic rate,” stands for The amount of energy your body uses to maintain basic functions while at complete rest.
These include vital activities such as heartbeat, respiration, cell regeneration, maintenance of body temperature, and all other basic biological activities required to sustain life during inactivity.
The BMR calculator tells us that, on average, BMR accounts for approximately 60% to 70% of your daily energy expenditure. However, accurate BMR calculation requires 12 hours of fasting, adequate sleep, absolute rest, and no ability to consume.
Age, body composition, hormones and body shape can affect your basal metabolic rate:
The incidence is higher in children and adolescents due to ongoing growth demands, and gradually declines in adults as the body transitions from building to breaking down.
People with more muscle have a higher basal metabolic rate because muscles require more energy to maintain. Conversely, a higher proportion of body fat decreases basal metabolic rate because adipose tissue requires minimal energy to maintain.
Sex at birth is also important, with males generally having a higher basal metabolic rate due to higher average muscle mass.
Hormones, such as thyroxine in the thyroid gland, also affect basal metabolic rate. Thyroxine levels are related to metabolic rate: higher levels increase basal metabolic rate, while lower levels decrease basal metabolic rate.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
Thermic effect of food (TEF) is How your body uses energy during the process of digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the food you eat.
Think of TEF as the cost of energy your body expends to process the nutrients in your diet.
TEF makes up approximately ten percent of your daily caloric intake. So if you consume 2,000 calories, you’ve burned approximately 200 calories through eating and digestion alone.
The composition of food can have a profound impact on TEF. Different macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) require different levels of energy to digest and metabolize.
Proteins and complex carbohydrates have a higher thermic effect and require more energy to break down. In comparison, fats and simple carbohydrates have a low thermic effect and require relatively little energy expenditure.
To get into the specifics, here’s how macronutrients affect TEF:
- fat: 9 calories per gram; TEF range 0-5%
- carbohydrate: 4 calories per gram; TEF range 5-15%
- protein: 4 calories per gram; TEF range 20-30%
This is one reason why a high-protein diet has metabolic advantages and helps you feel fuller longer. Same as choosing minimally processed complex carbs over simple carbs.
Fats have the lowest thermic effect, but despite this, healthy fats like avocado, salmon, nuts and seeds play a vital role in maintaining body functions, protecting organs and providing energy.
Factors such as age, insulin resistance, and physical activity also affect TEF. For example, physically active people experience higher TEF.
If you want to know, What You definitely eat better than when you eat. While some believe that a hearty breakfast can boost daily calorie burning, the impact of meal timing on TEF remains inconclusive.
TDEE: Your total daily energy expenditure
Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is The total amount of energy your body uses in a day.
These components we discussed above add up to your TDEE:
| Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Your basal metabolic rate reflects the calories your body burns while performing basic functions at rest. This accounts for approximately 70% of TDEE and covers activities such as breathing, blood circulation and supporting brain function. |
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
TEF represents the amount of energy required to digest, absorb, and metabolize the food you eat. About 10% of TDEE comes from TEF, but this may vary depending on your diet. Foods rich in protein or complex carbohydrates require more energy to process, thus increasing TEF. |
| Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
EAT accounts for a small portion of TDEE, about 5%. It includes calories burned during intentional movement, such as going to the gym, jogging, or yoga. |
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)
NEAT accounts for the remaining 15% of TDEE. It includes energy expended during daily non-exercise activities such as walking, fidgeting and doing household chores. |
As you can see, BMR is the basis for calorie burning and is boosted by EAT, NEAT, and TEF.
The sum of these determines your daily calorie needs and the calories burned.
If you’re working toward a specific fitness goal (such as losing weight or building muscle), your TDEE and calorie needs will change as you progress. As you lose fat or build muscle, your metabolism will adapt to your new body composition, affecting your calorie needs during your workout.
We can help you achieve your goals
Knowing and meeting your daily calorie needs is an integral part of many health and fitness goals.
Count how many calories you need to be satisfied your goals, try our weight loss calculator or the ultimate macro calculator.
No matter what your goals are, Precision Nutrition can help you achieve them.
The article Everything You Need to Know About Calculating Your Daily Calorie Needs appeared first on Precision Nutrition.