How Many Calories Should I Eat
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The bottom line in weight management is all about calories. How Many Calories Should I Eat should be answered by first determining your goal. Do you want to lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same weight? There is a simple formula:
Gain Weight = Calories In > Calories Burned.
Maintain Weight = Calories In = Calories Burned.
Lose Weight = Calories In < Calories Burned.
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After you have decided on your goal it is time to move to the next phase in answering How Many Calories Should I Eat. It is determining how many calories you need based on your age, gender and activity level. The below chart from choosemyplate.gov will help you determine this.
SEDENTARY = less than 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity in addition to daily activities.
MOD. ACTIVE = at least 30 minutes up to 60 minutes a day of moderate physical activity in addition to daily activities.
ACTIVE = 60 or more minutes a day of moderate physical activity in addition to daily activities.
How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?
Remember! When desiring to lose weight it is important to know that 3,500 calories equals one pound. That means that if you’ve burned 3,500 more calories than you have eaten in a week, you’ve lost one pound!
Once you have an understanding of the calories you need to take in to maintain your activity level, you need to evaluate how much of these calories you need to burn to lose weight. In order to lose a pound a week, you should burn 3500 calories. So let’s tie this all together shall we? If you are a 26-30 year old moderately active female, you need around 2000 calories a day to maintain your activity level and maintain your current weight. Now if you are continually gaining weight at a moderate activity level, this means that you are more than likely taking in more than 2000 calories a day. The excess calories that you do not burn is stored as fat. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in. You do this by increasing your activity level to burn more than the 2000. Make sense? Bottom line, burn more than you take in.
Most people do not realize how much food they take in versus the food that they burn. Part of Healthy Living is knowing this. It is important to keep track of this information. Try using our Healthy Living Food Journal and our Fitness Journal. You can find these and other free tools on our Healthy Living Tools page.