How much? That is the question!

The question was how many calories does an individual need for maintenance, to gain or loose body fat.

The Basal Metabolic Rate formulas for men and women are listed below.

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

So my BMR is 66+(6.23 * 233) + (12.7 * 69) - (6.8 * 52) 66+ 1451.59 + 876.3 -353.6 = 2040.29.

My RMR is 1880. I obtained that from a RMR online calculator.

My basic metabolic rate would then require me to eat 2040 calories per day. It does not consider activity levels. This would be a vegetative state, doing not much of anything!

Next you use the Harris Benedict equation to figure out how many calories per day you need with different activity levels:

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

If I choose option 1, my daily caloric intake would then be 2040 * 1.2 = 2448.348. If I choose option 2 it would jump to 2805.

One caveat, technically these are as scientific as you get, but how our bodies respond to what we eat affects the rate of fat loss. For example my activity level is number 3 (3-5 days/week I do something). That would put my caloric consumption at a whopping 3162 calories per day (I can eat a lot ice cream with those numbers). But my experience has been that eating that much makes me gain weight (not muscle weight), regardless of how much excercise I participate in. So, I've been shooting for 2400 and so far I'm happy with the results. Never go below you minimum BMR or RMR. That only causes you to be constantly hungry.

I have been tracking my food for the last four weeks. My weight has fluctuated tremendously but I have lost all the weight I gained while on vacation. Figuring out what I need to eat is the hard part. For option 1 I would choose to cut 5%, a conservative amount of fat loss. Are you still with me? 2449 (rounded) minus 5% equals 2326.55. If I chose a more aggressive plan let's say 15% that would put me at 2081.65 which is just above my BMR.

Once you know your target daily calorie consumption, split it into five or six meals and fat will slowly but surely melt away. Plus your insulin levels will normalize. Exercise is involved in insulin control as well but apparently not as much as we think. Nutrition is where the 'buck stops'.

Another thing I would recommend is that when working out these formulas, you leave your ego at the door. We think we are more active than we really are and tracking calories can be off as well. The formulas have an error percentage of 5%. They are not menat for very fit nor extremely obese individuals. They are estimates!

Working out these formulas for the umpteenth time, made me realize that I was off in understanding the concept. What I was doing was figuring out how many calories I would use during a workout and ate that much more (silly!). That effectively nullified the whole thing and therefore made me remain at a constant weight or worse, gain some pounds.

Below are the results of using an online calculator:

BMR 2,025 RMR 1,880 (calories)

Adjusted BMR and RMR calculations with activity factors.

Factor Category Definition BMR RMR
1.2 Sedentary Little or no exercise and desk job. 2,430 2,256

1.375 Lightly Active Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week. 2,784 2,585

1.55 Moderately Active Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week 3,139 2,914

1.725 Very Active Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week 3,493 3,243

1.9 Extremely Active Hard daily exercise or sports 3,848 3,572

As we can see there is a lot of room to experiment. But as I stated, there seems to be a threshold for me. I go over that and the weight comes back really fast.

So now that I know exactly how this works and where I went south, I’m back on track. This will work, but one has to be patient. We say this to ourselves, the weight did not come overnight (well it might have), it will not go away overnight either. We just don’t seem to believe it. Shows like ‘The Biggest Looser’ may be to blame for this. Those folks workout 2-4 hours a day! I’m sorry, I only have 45 minutes. Besides after 45-60 minutes ‘cortisol’ levels increase which make it hard to recover. Unless of course you really have good sleeping patterns and impecable nutritional discipline.

In the end, I'll know which formula works for me by the results.