Don’t know how much food you should eat each day? Are you eating too much? Lot’s of you have been asking me how I calculated my caloric intake and the answer is pretty simple! So if you want to figure out how much food you need to eat – that’s you’re article!

Personally, I love to track the food I’m putting into my body, just so I KNOW that my diet has been on point that day. I started because I wasn’t sure if I’m eating enough – and as soon as I started tracking my calories with an app I noticed that I ate too little! It’s definitely not a must but very helpful if you are really into fitness and have a goal you want to achieve. I also have to admit that it’s hard to count calories whenever I’m traveling. From time to time I got a feeling for it and there is no longer the need to track my calories on a daily basis. But I’m still doing it when I got the chance to or if I really want to focus on my body shape! ♥︎

So it’s actually pretty simple. If you eat less calories than your body needs you will lose weight. And if you eat more than your body needs you will gain weight. Sounds easy, right?

When I calculated my „calorie intake“ I used the Harris Benedict Formula. This is how you do it:

655,1 + (9,6 * bodyweight in kg) + (1,8 * height in cm) – (4,7 * age in years) = BMR (basal metabolic rate)

Next you need to include the PAL Factor (Physical Activity Level). Why? Because if you have a super active lifestyle you will of course need more calories than if you’re never working out.

Little to no exercise BMR x 1.2

Light exercise (1–3 days per week) BMR x 1.4

Moderate exercise (3–5 days per week) BMR x 1.6

Heavy exercise (6–7 days per week) BMR x 1.7

If you want to maintain your weight – stay with this result.

If you want to gain weight – add another 200-500 calories

If you want to lose weight – subtract 100-500 calories

Of course every body and every metabolism is different. This formula is really useful as an orientation & you can of course adjust the number of calories if you’re gaining / losing weight too quickly or slowly ♡

If you’re not into counting calories I would still recommend doing it for 2 or 3 days – just to get an idea of how much for example 2300 calories really are.

IN MY CASE:

655,1 + 9,6 * 50kg + 1,8 * 165cm – 4,7 * 19 = 1342 calories

1342,8 * 1.6 (I’m working out 4 times a week) = 2147 calories

2147 + 200 (I want to increase my weight slowly) = 2350 calories