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- How many calories per day
How many calories per day
How many calories can you consume per day?
On average, women need 2000 caloriës per day and men about 2500. Whether you need more or less than average depends, among other things, on how active you are. On this page, you can calculate approximately how many calories you can eat and drink each day.
Number of caloriës per day
Enter your sex, age, weight, height and lifestyle to calculate the number of caloriës per day.
Calculating the number of caloriës per day yourself
You can also calculate the number of caloriës you need per day yourself. To do this, you need to take several factors into account.
The body needs a certain amount of energy to maintain all basic bodily functions. This includes pumping blood, controlling the brain and keeping the organs working. This is the resting metabolism. The basic calorie requirement is the amount of caloriës you need to get through a day if you do not do anything active.
Basic calorie requirement (resting metabolism)
The basic calorie requirement or resting metabolism can be calculated using the following formulas. Men have a higher resting metabolism than women. The result is given in kilocalories (kcal).
| Calculation of the basic calorie requirement (resting metabolism) |
|---|
| Women: 447,593 + (9,247 x weight in kg) + (3,098 x height in cm) – (4,330 x age) |
| Men: 88,362 + (13,397 x weight in kg) + (4,799 x height in cm) – (5,677 x age) |
Additional calorie requirement
Of course, during the day you do more than just lie still or sit. The activities you undertake during the day also require energy. The extent to which someone is active each day is expressed as the so-called PAL value. PAL stands for ‘physical activity level’.
| Additional calorie requirement (lifestyle) | PAL value |
|---|---|
| People who sit or lie down all day. | 1,2 |
| Sedentary work without interruption and with almost no movement during leisure time. | 1,4 - 1,5 |
| Sedentary work alternating with walking and almost no movement during leisure time, or exercising 1-3 times per week. | 1,6 - 1,7 |
| Standing work or exercising 3-5 times per week (at least 1 hour of intensive exercise). | 1,8 - 1,9 |
| A great deal of physical exertion during leisure time or at work (exercising 6-7 times per week). | 2,0 - 2,4 |
Calculating your total calorie requirement per day
Multiplying the basic calorie requirement by the PAL value gives an estimate of the amount of caloriës you need in a day. You calculate the total calorie requirement by using the above figures in the following calculation:
| Total calorie requirement |
|---|
| Total calorie requirement = basic calorie requirement x PAL value |
If you consume more than the calculated number of caloriës, you take in more energy than you need. The risk is that your weight will continue to increase. If you eat too little, you may become underweight and too thin. If you want to know how healthy your weight is, you can easily calculate your BMI here.