Why Calculate Daily Energy Needs ?
Imagine filling your car with gas. Would you randomly pour in some fuel, risking not putting enough or causing it to overflow?
Calculating your energy needs is a crucial step in creating a dietary plan, though not always indispensable under certain conditions.
Formula Used: Harris-Benedict Formula
This formula considers weight, height, gender, and age, with the added consideration of activity level to closely approximate your energy needs to maintain body weight.
To determine how much to eat, you simply add or subtract (typically around 300 kcal in total) based on your goal of gaining or losing weight. It’s essential to calculate the total intake for a day to use this data effectively.
Pros :
- You can establish the foundation of your die
- You can optimize your diet to reach a certain level
- You will become mindful of what you eat
- You will have more control on your groceries budget
Cons :
- It involves some constraints
- Requires upfront work and knowledge
- Doesn’t account for your metabolism, genetics, and body composition
- It doesn’t take in consideration macronutrients, micronutrients and glycemic index
calories calculator
Conclusion
It’s still highly useful to know your maintenance energy needs to set the basis for your nutrition.
However, I’m not an advocate of excessive tracking. I always blend theory with real-life practice and results.
With calorie information, I have the theoretical foundation. Based on how the diet impacts the physique, I adjust the diet without going through the calculation phase.
Regarding diet tracking, it’s about pre-calculating quantities and consuming the right amounts of each food every day.
Your business to see if it’s useful or not, try it, and you’ll figure it out.
My advice is not to focus only on the calories total, as your diet will not be complete and healthy with only this single parameter.