I'm trying to work out my exact daily calorie need?

FK1983

Ok, this is confusing me!
I'm trying to work out how many calories I need per day just to maintain my weight, I have been on a few BMR sites where you have to times the BMR by the amount of exercise you do but I'm trying to make certain it is right?


My stats:
Height 5ft 11"
Weight: 160lbs
Age: 28

Daily activity: 4x 25 minute fast pace (4mph) walks a day with dog, various weights for 60 minutes every other day. It says my basic BMR is 1793 without any exercise so around 2,400 including exercise?

Also, would a heart rate monitor show how many you burn in 24hrs?
Thanks

CassieLEO

That seems kind of low to me. Id check out a few other sources online and see what they say. Or, try it out for a couple weeks and see if you lose weight doing it.
My boyfriend is on maintenance and he is having over 2000 calories, and he isnt exercising too much, so to me, what they gave you seems kind of low....

Fattack

Your BMR is your basic metabolic rate. This excludes exercise. Hell, it excludes getting out of bed. This is how much you burn if you did NOTHING.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ I popped in your details and got 1774 on this calculator, but they do vary slightly.

What I'd do, if I didn't want to use MFP's estimates, is use the Harris Benedict equation (it's linked on that site so you can read more about it) to work out my daily calorie needs. Harris Benedict accounts for your activity, however "activity" is different to different people - one person may work out every day on their Wii burning 200 calories, and their twin may work out every day spinning and burning 600 calories. To avoid this discrepancy, I use the Harris Benedict equation accounting for my JOB (I work at a desk, so I'd multiply my BMR by 1.2 - for sedentary), then I eat my exercise calories (which you can work out using a HRM or MFP) on top of this figure.

So if you worked at a desk, you'd be aiming for around 2128 a day (1774x1.2) and then your exercise (such as walking your dog) on top of it

Hope this helps!

FK1983

Thank you Fattack, that is very helpful.
Also, would a heart rate monitor track how many calories you burn over 24 hours? just that would be spot on? if so any makes or models that anyone could recommend?