This calculator is based off of the Mifflin St Jeor equation that has become the standard in calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate. Before you calculate your calorie needs, you should know that there are a few things that go into determining this number.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): This is the amount of calories your body will burn to keep you alive, beat your heart, contract and expand your lungs, send nerve signals throughout your body, etc. It is recommended to not allow your daily calorie intake to drop below this level in order to optimize your health, energy and body composition. This is based off of your age and size. This will roughly account for 50-60% of your daily calories burned.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): This is the amount of calories you burn during normal life stuff. Getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, walking to and from the mailbox, fidgeting at your desk at work, chasing kids around and so on. This number is highly variable depending on your activity level and can account from anywhere to 15%-40% of your calories burned each day. When filling out the form below this would be the "How active outside are you outside of your exercise?" question.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) or Diet-Induced Thermogenesis (DIT): This is the amount of energy that is used to digest the food that you eat. This number can vary quite a bit also based on the foods you typically eat. The higher protein and/or higher fiber diet that you are on will raise the energy expenditure in this area. The more processed a food is the less energy it will take for you body to break it down and therefore you will burn less calories to digest those foods. Protein has the highest thermic effect, followed by carbs, then fat. This area can account for around 8-15% of your daily calorie burn depending on your macronutrient consumption ratios.
Specific Dynamic Action (SDA) or Exercise Associated Thermogenesis (EAT): Take your pick on which acronym you like better but this one is pretty simple. This is intentional exercise. This is going for a run, lifting weights, doing burpees, etc. It isn't shoveling snow, mowing the lawn or taking the stairs at work those would fall into your NEAT. In the equation below this would be your exercise frequency and intensity. Frequency should be pretty self-explanatory. Intensity is a personal rating, the higher you get your heart rate and longer it stays elevated the more intense the exercise. For some going for a walk or doing bodyweight squats could be intense exercise for others intense might mean doing a tabata or HIIT style workout. Also average your exercise out, if you do yoga 3 days a week and 3 days of a HIIT type training then you would likely fall somewhere in the middle on the intensity range.
Fill out the following boxes to figure out your macronutrient needs. If you have and special needs or conditions these numbers may not be 100% accurate for you. I also encourage you checking with your doctor before beginning any new diet or way of eating. If you have questions regarding your numbers feel free to email us at info@thecookandthecoach.com
