How important are calories to the body?
Calories are units used to calculate the energy that the body absorbs from food and consumes through daily physical activities. This energy helps maintain all living activities from exercise, manual labor to even passive activities such as sleeping. If the body does not have energy, the organs cannot continue to function to ensure life.
However, calorie control needs to be balanced. If you consume more than you consume, excess energy will be converted into long-term accumulated fat, causing dangerous chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, blood fat, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Conversely, if you lack energy regularly, the body will fall into a state of fatigue, lethargy, loss of concentration and severely reduced resistance.
Standard daily calorie intake
Each person's energy needs depend on gender, age, weight and activity level. For a healthy adult, the recommended energy level to maintain basic activities for women is about 2000 calories per day.
Meanwhile, men, due to faster metabolism and larger muscle mass, need about 2500 calories per day. Providing just enough energy will help the body function well and the function of organs is maintained stably.
Detailed instructions on how to calculate calories to lose weight
To make the process of regaining figure scientific, each person needs to apply a calorie calculation method for weight loss based on the energy deficit level suitable for their personal physique.
First, you need to know that 1 gram of starch or 1 gram of protein will provide 4 calories, while 1 gram of fat contains up to 9 calories.
From there, you can calculate your specific energy needs through the Mifflin St Jeor formula:
Men: Calorie needs = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age + 5
Women: Calorie needs = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age – 161
Based on average energy needs, if men aged 26 to 45 want to lose 0.5kg per week, they need to consume about 2000 calories per day. This number for women of the same age is 1500 calories per day.
In case you regularly exercise, your intake can be around 2300 calories for men but still need to ensure energy deficiencies. Especially note, this calculation method is not applicable to pregnant or breastfeeding women.
