Calories per day

TimC00k

I am a 49 year old male, 5 foot 11-inches in height.

I know most sites suggest that I take in 2,000 calories per day but I'm wondering, shouldn't caloric intake also be dependent upon your weight?

All things being equal (sex, age, height, daily activity), wouldn't you think that someone who weighs 160-pounds would need fewer calories than someone who weighs 194 pounds?

The reason I ask is I'm trying to figure out how many calories I should be consuming if/when I reach 160 pounds. I started this journey at roughly 194-pounds and have worked my way down to 172 pounds and hoping to eventually reach 160-pounds which will put my BMI at a healthy 22.3.

Thank you

spot

The figure you're looking for is the sum of your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which you use each day in an idle state, to which you'd add however much you additionally burn during exercise. The relevant section of the website is described at https://cronometer.com/help/diary/#targets and there's a longish article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

Cronometer includes your current height and weight when estimating your BMR. You can also tell the system how much of what type of exercise you perform to get your final figure.

Susan_RD_101

@TimC00k

You are exactly right. When we lose weight, the calories we needed to maintain our new weight decreases. The key factor that determines our calorie requirements is how active we are.

Kind regards,

Dragon8

Hello

I read somewhere that the trick to losing weight was to eat the calories that you need to maintain your goal weight. If memory serves it was a Mens Health fitness expert Alan Aragon who said it. Any thoughts??
cheers
Dragon8

spot

If the numbers and experience matched a mathematical simplification then the goal weight would be approached more and more slowly but never reached. I think the point of eating less than that fixed amount is to get to the goal weight more quickly.

Dragon8

For me, getting there and staying there is the goal. And yes nothing is simple when dealing with a dynamic metabolic bundle of cells like a human being.

TimC00k

@Susan_RD_101 Hi Susan, that seems logical and kind of what I was thinking.

I'm wondering, now that I am 170 pounds, how do I figure out how many calories should I be eating if I lead a sedentary life and the same question for when I eventually reach 160 pounds?

I'm using sedentary life as my baseline, not because I don't exercise, but an app I use does tell me roughly how many calories I burnt through exercise, so I can always add that to the baseline calories needed to maintain either 160 pounds or 170 pounds.

Thank you

Susan_RD_101

@TimC00k

I use the Mifflin St. Jeor equation for calculating this. You can find the formula at the following site:

https://www.freedieting.com/calorie-calculator

Kind regards,