Mastering Your Metabolism: How To Calculate Your Daily Calorie Expenditure.

Calories play a crucial role in determining fat loss because they represent the amount of energy your body consumes and expends. In short, a calorie is simply a unit of energy.

The total calories burned compared to the total calories consumed, make up energy balance.

When we consume fewer calories than we burn, our body uses its fat stores for energy, causing fat loss. When we consume more calories than we burn our body stores the excess energy in fat.

So I know what calories are and why they’re important, but how do I know how many calories I’m burning?

Thankfully, to find your daily calorie expenditure all you need is access to the internet and a wifi connection. There are plenty of online calculators that you can use. Simply google something like: “calorie calculator” or click here. Now follow the 3 easy steps below.

Your basal metabolic rate is the number of calories your body uses to perform basic functions at rest. Any calculator you use to determine your daily calorie expenditure will find your BMR by asking for your age, height, weight, and gender. You can simply enter these measurements into your calorie calculator and select “BMR”.

However, it doesn’t end there. Nobody actually burns only their BMR everyday because even as you walk around your house or fidget your fingers you are burning more calories. To account for these extra burned calories you will need to add an activity level multiplier.

To calculate and include your activity you will need to choose your activity level from a drop down list of options as shown below. Note: Your list may look different depending on your calculator.

When choosing one of these options it is important to accurately assess your physical activity. Keep in mind cardio exercise usually burns more calories than weight lifting.

For Example:

You weight lift 7 days a week and never do cardio: consider choosing the “active” option.

You do not weight lift, but you play a sport 3 days a week for multiple hours at a time: consider choosing the “active” option.

In both of these examples, the “active” option was chosen but one person exercises 3 days a week while the other exercises 7 days a week. Why? Because both people are likely burning a similar number of calories even though their type of exercise is different.

Note: If you are stuck between 2 options it is generally a good idea to choose the lesser option.

Congratulations! Now you know how many calories you burn every day! 🥳

Now that you know how many calories you burn, you can set a realistic goal for weight loss or weight gain.

If you want to lose weight you can simply aim to consume 500 calories less than you burn; if you want to gain weight aim to consume 500 calories more than you burn; or if you want to maintain your weight aim to consume the same amount as you burn.

So, I know how many calories I burn and how many calories I should eat, but how do I actually track how many calories I’m eating?

The most effortless way to track your calories is by using a phone app such as MyFitnessPal or Lose It. I personally use Lose It to track my calories but all the apps work very similarly.

As you continue tracking your calories and monitoring your weight you can always readjust your calories and/or exercise based on your progress.

If you track calories for a couple weeks and you are still not seeing progress, adjust your daily calorie consumption and continue to measure your progress. Repeat this step until you do. Note: after adjusting your calories you will need to wait a couple weeks to see if the new amount is working based on your goals.

As you progress and continue crushing your goals you will need to adjust your calories over time especially with significant lifestyle changes – occasionally coming back to the calculator as needed. Simply repeat the steps above to find your new caloric need.

That’s it! You are well on your way to crushing your goals and changing your life! 👋