To calculate your energy needs for your body, you first must understand the concept of your Basal Metabolic Rate. Your Basal Metabolic Rate is an amount of energy that your body burn to perform essential body functions while you are resting. The minimum amount of energy required for your body to sustain itself is your Basal Metabolic Rate.
This Basal Metabolic Rate is the starting point for all other calculations for your bodys energy needs. If you burn fewer calorie than your Basal Metabolic Rate, your body will slow down your metabolism to use the energy it receives from the food you consume. Thus, before calculating your energy needs based off your goals for your body, you must first determine your Basal Metabolic Rate.
How to Calculate Your Body’s Energy Needs
Next, you must calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the amount of energy burned by your Basal Metabolic Rate and the amount of energy you burn from the physical activities that you perform. Many individuals underestimate the physical activity that they burn and undercount the number of calorie that they burn while sitting for long periods.
To account for this, many individuals use activity multipliers to calculate their total energy expenditure. The Total Daily Energy Expenditure determines the total amount of energy that you burn in a 24-hour period, which determines whether or not you need to consume more or less calories each day. With your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, you can calculate how many calories you need to consume to achieve a specific goal for your body.
If your goal is to lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. A small calorie deficit is best for the body as it will allow your body to lose weight without losing muscle mass. However, if your goal is to gain muscle, you will need to consume more calories than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
By consuming more calories, your body will have the energy to grow muscle. In addition to the total amount of calories that you consume, you should also calculate the macronutrient in the food that you consume. The three macronutrients your body requires are protein, carbohydrates, and fats.
Protein is necessary to build and protect your muscle tissue. Carbohydrates provide the energy for your body to perform physical activity. Lastly, fats are necessary for hormonal health in your body.
You need to consume a balance of these three macronutrients to keep your body functioning proper. Your energy needs will change as you age. When you are young, your body is growing which require a high amount of energy.
As you age, you will have less muscle mass which burns more calories at a higher rate then fat tissue. Thus, your metabolism will slow as you age, and you will require fewer calories to sustain your body. Finally, there is no perfect formula for calculating your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
No formula can account for your genetics or the efficiency of your thyroids metabolism. You can start using the formula that you have learned to set a target for the amount of calories you wish to consume. After two weeks, you can assess how your body is responding and adjust the number of calories you consume.
If you feel lethargically and lack energy, you may need to increase the amount of calories that you consume. If you are not making any progress toward your goal, you may need to adjust the number of calories you consume. By using this starting point and the strategy that this article has discussed, you can fuel your body with the energy that your body needs to function proper.
