Calorie needs calculation? Calculating required calories

Losing weight means consuming fewer calories than you burn, and for building muscle, you need to consume more calories. But how many calories do you actually need in a day? Below, we'll explain everything to you and share our handy formula for calculating your calorie needs.

Formula for your calorie needs

On average, women need about 2000 calories per day, and men need 2500 calories per day. However, the daily calorie needs vary for each person. At Orangefit, we've developed our own formula for calculating this, based on the revised Harris-Benedict formula (2), which includes the following variables:

• Gender
• Height
• Weight
• Age
• How active you live
• How much you exercise
• Goal

You can calculate how active you live by assigning a number to it using the following equation:

• Lightly active: Mostly sedentary work (office job) = x 1.1
• Moderately active: Some sedentary, some standing = x 1.25
• Very active: Mostly physically demanding work = x 1.5
• Extremely active: Heavy physical work = x 1.75

Similarly, there are also numbers for the amount you exercise:

• 0 times a week = x 1
• 1-3 times a week = x 1.15
• 4-5 times a week = x 1.25
• 6+ times a week = x 1.45

Calculate your daily calorie needs now:

Formula for women:

(655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)) x activity factor x sport factor = kcal per day

Example for women:

(655 + (9.6 x 65 kg) + (1.8 x 175 cm) - (4.7 x 30 years)) x 1.1 x 1.15 = 1838 kcal per day

Formula for men:

(66 + (13.7 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x height in centimeters) - (6.8 x age in years)) x activity factor x sport factor = kcal per day

Example for men:

(66 + (13.7 x 65 kg) + (5 x 175 cm) - (6.8 x 30 years)) x 1.1 x 1.15 = 2059 kcal per day

Goal:

To lose weight or gain weight, you now need to do one more thing:

• Do you want to lose weight? Your daily calorie needs x 0.85 = ideal
• Do you want to gain weight? Your daily calorie needs x 1.15 = ideal

Healthy weight loss:

As you lose or gain weight, your weight changes and so does the formula above. To continue losing weight or gaining weight, you will need to recalculate your calorie needs approximately every month.

Our advice is not to make the calorie deficit or surplus too large (maximum 10-20% below/above your daily calorie needs). Focus mainly on changing your lifestyle. This will keep you going longer and prevent you from eventually falling back into old habits.

Read also: This is how you can lose weight healthily