How did week 1 go? Are you feeling great about your accomplishments thus far? If it’s been hard to make changes, don’t feel discouraged. If you had a bad day (or multiple days) this past week don’t worry about it, this is a new week and time for a better you.
So this week we are going to talk about estimating the calories you need in a day. Estimating your calorie needs can be done in a number of different ways. There are ways to measure it using various different machines and there are numerous equations that can be used to estimate it, and while the equations may not be quite as accurate as the machines they can get pretty darn close.
Here are 2 sites that can calculate your body mass index (BMI) and your daily calorie needs. If they give you slightly different numbers you can average them to get a general idea of your calorie needs.
http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm
http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-burned
Next this equation has been shown to be pretty accurate but you need to whip out the huge graphing calculator to get this one figured out. Oh and here are some conversions for you…
To start you will need to convert your weight and height…
Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms.
Multiply your height in inches by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters.
Ok are your calculator fingers ready? …
Mifflin-St Jeor Equations
Men: (9.99 X weight) + (6.25 X height) – (4.92 X age) + 5
Women: (9.99 X weight) + (6.25 X height) – (4.92 X age) – 161
**Equations use weight in kilograms (kg), height in centimeters (cm)**
Since most of us don’t sleep all day every day, we need to take the number you got above and multiply it by an ”activity factor” to get a true picture of the total calories used each day.
(NOTE: Many people tend to overestimate their activity level.)
•1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
•1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)
•1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
•1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week)
•1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job)
So if you took the time to punch the numbers in, go ahead and compare it to the results you get on the websites and see how close it is. It should be pretty close. And like I said you can average your results to get a better estimate of your calorie needs.
**I know I have mentioned this previously but remember when setting calorie goals for yourself that generally women should not consume any less than 1,200 calories per day, and men should not consume less than 1,500 calories per day.**
Next, eating enough food to make you feel full, BUT still staying within your calorie goals is where portion control comes into play. Portion sizes have become so extreme lately. When you can get all of your calories for one day in one hamburger at a fast food restaurant you know there is a problem! Anyway, here are some links to get an idea of exactly how much you should be eating from each of the food groups.
The first is this wallet size .pdf handout (that you could laminate and keep with you always… ha ha ha 
)
The second is a .pdf document by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about portion control and pitfalls to avoid when trying to manage your weight. It comes complete with a game and references for more information.
As a side note, they also have this cool brochure on managing your weight without being hungry.
If you really think you are good at portion size or if you just want to test your knowledge try out this quiz to see some portion sizes and how much exercise you have to do to burn the extra calories.
Ok, well that is it for this week. You now have the tools to determine how many calories you need (and remember to create a calorie deficit aim for 500 – 1000 calories below the estimated calorie needs you calculated above to result in a weight loss of 1 – 2 pounds per week), and how to measure/estimate portion sizes.
I hope you all have a great “new you” week and I’ll be back next week with lots of information about the nutrition label!
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