Calories needed

Calculate the number of calories per day needed

a) How many calories do you require daily?

Knowing the amount of energy or calories that our body needs to consume every day is essential. As we put gasoline in our car to drive, or our strength to ride a bicycle, we demand energy daily for various activities: moving, getting up, washing, walking, working, eating, reading, writing. , typing, running, thinking, picking up an object, talking, breathing, digesting, living, sleeping, etc. Only a corpse does not need energy, but we have little awareness of it.

The amount of energy a person requires each day varies depending on their gender, height, age, weight, level of physical activity, level of intellectual and mental activity. For example, the number of calories per day for a peasant (who plows his field every day for 5 hours) is obviously more important than the number of calories per day for a woman like a secretary of 1m65 (sedentary working in front of a computer). In addition, mental or intellectual effort in a student undergoing revision consumes almost as many calories as physical effort.

The average man requires about 2,500 kilocalories each day to maintain body weight, and an average woman about 2,000 kilocals daily (except in pregnancy or breastfeeding, where her body may have higher energy demands). Normally, a person's average calorie needs vary based on their daily physical activities.

1 Calorie = 1 kilocalorie = 1000 calories (1 Calorie = 1 large calorie and 1 calorie = 1 small calorie)

b) Calorie needs in normal times.

- In the man:

If it is active less than 30 minutes daily: it requires about 2,100 kilocalories (Cal),

If it is active for 30 to 60 minutes daily: approximately 2,500 to 2,700 kilocalories,

If he is active for more than 60 minutes daily: 3,000 to 3,500 kilocalories approximately (the longer and more intense the activity, the greater his caloric expenditure).

--Woman:

If it is active less than 30 minutes daily: it requires about 1,800 kilocalories,

If it is active for 30 to 60 minutes daily: approximately 2,000 to 2,200 kilocalories,

If active for more than 60 minutes daily: 2,400 to 2,800 kilocalories

If pregnant or breastfeeding: 1,800 to 2,500 kilocalories.

c) Important note.

Other factors can also affect the number of calories you burn daily, for example, your state of health or illness, certain hormones (especially thyroid), certain medications (such as glucocorticoids used to treat inflammation), mood swings, the temperature of the environment you are in, etc. For example, in cold weather, the body needs more calories to maintain a normal temperature of 37 ° 5 and in a state of sleep or illness, the body expends few calories. The energy we use to run our bodies every day comes from what we eat or drink. Knowing our daily calorie demand allows us to better adapt our diet to better control our weight. For example, a person who requires 2000 Calories (Cal) on a daily basis, therefore, has very little interest in consuming 2,500 Cal (that is to say 500 Cal in excess of his demands, these 500 Cal will be stored in their fat if that person does not exercise extra to burn them). If, on the contrary, this same person consumes only 1,500 kilocals per day, so he eats 500 kilocals per day less compared to his daily caloric requirements, he should lose weight (and that even faster if he does physical exercises on the side. But, we recommend that you do not drop below a daily calorie intake of 1,200 unless you are following a medically supervised weight loss program or after consulting and obtaining the approval of your physician. require a higher calorie consumption in order to maintain their body weight. Be aware that a "sedentary" lifestyle is equivalent to zero kilometers of walking per day, "lightly active" is equivalent to less than 6 kilometers of walking per day (up to 9 400 steps on foot), "moderately active" is equivalent to between 6.1 and 16 km of walking per day (between 9,400 and 23,500 steps), "very active" is equivalent to walking 16.1 to 20 km per day (between 23,500 and 30 000 steps per day), "extremely active" means walking more than 20 km each day (more than 30,000 steps).