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the 50-30-20 breakdown for protein-carbohydrate-fat. When doing your calculations, remember, protein and carbohydrate have 4 calories per gram; fat, the most calorie-dense food, has 9 calories per gram.
How many Calories Do you need a day?
Now that you know the breakdown for your daily diet, the final step is how many calories should you eat a day to lose weight? To maintain weight, the following calculation (the Harris-Benedict equation) is used:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) = calories that need to be eaten daily to maintain current body weight for a normal weight adult at complete rest.
BMR (for men) = 66.4 + (13.7 X weight(kg)) + (5 X height(cm)) - (6.8 X age (years))
BMR (for women) = 655 + (9.6 X weight(kg)) + (1.8 X height(cm)) - (4.7 X age (years))
For example, the calculations for a 6 foot male at age 40 years old and weighing 200 pounds would be as follows:
BMR = 66.4 + (13.7 X 91(kg)) + (5 X 183(cm)) - (6.8 X 40(years))
BMR = 66.4 + 1246 + 915 - 272, or
BMR = 1955 calories per day
This is the basic energy level that the subject needs to maintain his weight at its current level. It assumes the patient is at complete rest - totally inactive. It encompasses the energy expended for such basic functions as breathing, pumping of the heart and circulation of the blood and tissues, and normal cell growth and cell death. The BMR is, as the equation shows, influenced by age, sex, and lean body mass. The BMR decreases as we get older, starting about age 20. It increases as we increase the amount of muscle - lean body tissue in our body. Since men
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