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Dr. Fuhrman Dr. Fuhrman

How many calories should you eat?

If you want to have control over your weight -whether you want to lose, maintain or gain weight- you should know approximately how many calories you should eat each day. This helps you find normal portion sizes, and normal meals, for your body.

How many calories you need to maintain weight depends on:

  1. Your weight: the heavier you are, the more calories your body needs to maintain its weight.
  2. Your body composition: muscles burn more calories than fat, so if you are very muscular, you need more calories than somebody with the same body weight who is not.
  3. Your activity level: the more active you are, the more calories you need.
  4. Your age: the older you are, the fewer calories you need.
  5. Genetics.

I made an online calculator that calculates how many calories you need each day.

Of course, we all know skinny people who seem to have no problem eating tons of fast food, and fat people who really do not eat that much. The formula is a starting point. You should watch your body, track your results (in a program, on a piece of paper, or in your head) and adjust your food intake accordingly.

I was kind of shocked to find out that if I live a sedentary life I need less than 1800 calories a day to maintain weight. That's thousand calories less than average.

Calculate how many calories you need each day

March 20, 2006