You are what you eat, do you know how many calories your body needs?

We are in our third Exercise Is Medicine program, where this past week we calculated how many calories you need for your body. As many have experienced before, you start your healthy lifestyle journey with a bang, and start fizzling out within a short amount of time. Typically, the reason is that people will starve themselves and/or exercise way too much, too soon. When you don’t give your body enough calories and enough just to function, you feel lethargic, even angry. Most of the time, your body wants to hold on to the fat and get rid of the muscles because they burn too many calories. Each body needs a minimum amount of calories just to survive. It’s called resting metabolic rate (RMR).

Too many times, crazy diets are completely messing up our system, and yes, you might lose weight, but is it sustainable? Most people have experienced those diets where they lost weight and then gained most, or more of it, back. As I have mentioned before, people take better care of their car than their bodies. Your car would absolutely not run when you don’t put gas in it, but our bodies continue to figure out how to keep going. The following has math in it — if it’s a challenge, ask one of your family members or friends to help you with the following.

You need to know the following: gender, age, weight in kilograms (divide your pounds by 2.2 to calculate kilograms), and height in centimeters (your height in inches x 2.54).

If you are a male: RMR = 66 + (13.75 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x your height in centimeters) – (6.8 x your age in years)

Female: RMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) – (4.7 x your age in years)

So for me, it would be the following: 665 + (9.6 x 61 kilograms = 586 rounded up) + (1.8 x 170 = 306) – (4.7×58 = 272 rounded down). 665+586+306-272= 1,285. So my resting metabolic rate is 1,285 calories per day just being efficient, doing nothing, being awake. Next step is to see where your activity level is and we are calculating our TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories you need to live and move. The following is the number you need to pick that fits the best for your activity level per day.

1.1= if you don’t exercise at all or very infrequently, 1.275= if you are a bit active and exercise 1 or 3 times per week, 1.35= if you exercise 3 to 5 times per week, 1.525 if you are very active and exercise nearly daily.

And you are correct, for my TDEE I need to multiply my RMR = 1285x 1.525 = 1,960 (rounded up) calories per day should be my intake with my activity level. I am right around that number and feel good and fit. I eat because I need calories. When I wait until I get hungry, I actually become “hangry.” And when I am hangry, my choices of food are typically not good. I grab what I can find and quick, unplanned choices are typically unhealthy with a low nutritional value.

This third EIM program is finishing on Nov. 21. We plan to start with another 12-week session in the beginning of 2025. (EIM, Exercise is Medicine is a doctor prescribed, medically based exercise program, led by credential EIM staff.)

To see where your calorie intake is now, record all your food intake for 3-7 days. Personally, I like to record things for seven days because it will include weekends where I typically eat a bit different.

And this quote from Google I like: “A goal without a plan is just a wish”

Ester H. Marsh is associate executive director and director of healthy living at the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA.