Switch to Metric Units Age years Height ft. Weight lbs. Select the statement that best describes your usual activity level. Examples Close Examples Light activity: walking or gardening Moderate activity: fast walking or water aerobics Vigorous activity: jogging, bicycling or lap swimming. Your estimated daily calorie needs rounded to the nearest 50 calories are:. See how your daily calorie needs change if you alter your activity level: calories Inactive calories Somewhat Active calories Active calories Very Active.
Mayo Clinic Press Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic. Sugar-sweetened beverages are high in calories and added sugar. Additionally, they affect your hunger and satiety less significantly than solid foods and have been linked to a higher risk of obesity. One simple thing you can do for your health is drink more water. Adequate hydration is associated with improved brain health and weight management, as well as a reduced kidney stone risk When combined with a healthy diet, drinking more water, especially before meals, appears to be helpful if you need to lose weight.
Try other unsweetened beverages like coffee, tea, and sparkling water to meet your hydration needs. Some studies have shown that drinking water may improve your health and help you eat fewer calories by increasing your feelings of fullness. When you eat fewer calories, your body compensates by saving energy, making you burn fewer calories. As such, long-term calorie restriction can significantly slow your metabolism and lead to a loss of muscle over time.
Resistance-training activities like weightlifting have been shown to prevent muscle loss and stop your metabolism from slowing during long-term calorie restriction Cardio exercises, such as walking, swimming, or jogging, can also be important — both for increasing weight loss and supporting overall health Additionally, exercise has a variety of other benefits that go beyond weight loss, such as increased longevity, enhanced energy levels, improved mental health, and a decreased risk of chronic disease 23 , 24 , 25 , Resistance training can help prevent muscle loss and keep your metabolism from slowing when cutting calories.
Cardio exercises can also help support other aspects of health. It also includes sugar and other sweeteners. Refined grains typically lack fiber, which supports weight loss by decreasing your appetite and increasing feelings of fullness Eating fewer carbs, including fewer refined carbs, may also promote weight loss by altering levels of specific hormones that regulate your appetite, such as peptide YY Refined carbs are low in fiber, which can help regulate your appetite and increase feelings of fullness.
Choose more complex carbs and nutrient-dense options like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. If you do decide to cut calories, you should be careful not to decrease your intake too much, as this could cause several serious side effects, including increased hunger, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, and nausea 4.
Consuming too few calories can also slow your metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term 5. Losing weight in a sustainable way also takes time.
Focusing exclusively on numbers and weight can also lead to disordered eating Cutting calories too much can harm your health and make it harder to maintain weight loss. Many websites and apps can help you track your calorie intake. How many calories you need per day depends on whether you want to maintain, lose, or gain weight , as well as various other factors, such as your sex, age, height, current weight, activity level, and metabolic health.
Making simple dietary and lifestyle changes, including exercising, drinking plenty of water, and increasing your protein intake, can help you lose weight and improve your health. Getting good quality sleep is an important part of weight loss. Here are a few ways sleep can help you lose weight. Wondering how to lose 10 pounds in 1 week? Plus, empty-calorie foods don't provide your body with the nutrients you need to live an active, well life. And when you eat junk food, you're likely to get hungry more often and overeat as a result.
Conversely, healthy foods help you to feel strong, energized, and satiated. If you factored exercise into the equation when using the online calculator, you should not eat more if you exercise. Your daily calorie goal the calculator result has already accounted for the additional physical activity. If you didn't factor in exercise when using the calculator and you added a workout session to your day, the calories burned during exercise will increase your calorie deficit.
If you don't eat back your exercise calories, the increased deficit can result in weight loss or greater weight loss. Be careful, though, because it is very easy to eat more calories than you burn after exercise. This can lead to weight gain versus weight loss or maintenance.
There are different ways that you can keep track of your daily calorie intake. These services allow you to input the food you've eaten along with your portion size and automatically calculate your daily calorie intake. There are also activity trackers, like Fitbit, which help you count daily food calories and daily exercise calories.
If you're not a fan of tech gadgets, use a weight loss journal or write your calories in a notebook to keep track of your daily numbers.
There is no "best" diet because we are all so different, with different lifestyles and different needs. The diet that will work best for you is the one you can stick to. For some people, a do-it-yourself program is best. Others benefit from the structured approach of a commercial weight loss program. To determine which is best for you, ask yourself key questions about your lifestyle. Do you cook?
How much time do you have to shop for healthy food? What is your budget? Use your responses to choose a diet that best fits your needs. Even though your total calorie intake matters, all calories are not created equal. Calories from nutritious food sources will help you to feel full longer, provide fuel for your daily activity, and improve your well-being.
So what are nutritious foods? Health experts recommend that you fill your plate with:. Empty calories can leave you feeling hungry, increase your food cravings, and even increase fatigue. You'll find them in processed foods that contain added sugars , trans fat, excess fat, and calories. They may provide energy but not the fiber , vitamins, and minerals you need.
There are many factors that contribute to weight loss success. If you don't lose weight right away, it doesn't mean that you have failed or done something wrong.
It might simply mean that you need to stick to your program longer for weight loss to happen. Evaluate your eating and exercise habits to see if there are adjustments you can make to reach your goal. There may also be medical reasons that you can't lose weight. So talk to your healthcare provider if you are concerned. Your doctor may be able to refer you to a registered dietitian for personalized nutrition advice.
If you have a higher amount of weight to lose, they might also talk to you about weight loss medications or weight-loss surgeries to help you lose weight. Looking to lose weight? Our nutrition guide can help you get on the right track.
Sign up for our newsletter and get it free! Macronutrients and caloric intake in health and longevity. J Endocrinol. Dietary Guidelines for Americans Published December American Heart Association. Dietary recommendations for healthy children. Reviewed April 16, In: StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing; updated August 25, Direct effects of thyroid hormones on hepatic lipid metabolism. Nature Rev Endocrinol. Verhaegen A, Van Gaal L. Drugs that affect body weight, body fat distribution, and metabolism.
Updated February 11,
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