Table of contents:
- How to calculate daily calorie expenditure
- Difference between basal energy expenditure and total caloric expenditure
- How caloric expenditure can vary
- Because it is important to know your calorie expenditure
Calorie expenditure is the total amount of energy the body expends per day, including the energy the body needs to maintain basic functions, such as breathing or heartbeat, and the energy spent on activities done throughout the day, such as cleaning the house, working or doing physical activities, for example.
To calculate this caloric expenditure, a formula developed by the World He alth Organization can be used, where the energy expenditure of basic body functions is multiplied by an activity factor, which is a value that varies according to the gender, weight, age and types of activities the person performs during the day.
A more practical way to calculate caloric expenditure and find out how many calories you spend per day is to use this calculator, just insert your data:
How to calculate daily calorie expenditure
Daily caloric expenditure can be calculated using the formula developed by the World He alth Organization, where the basal energy expenditure, which is the amount of energy that the body spends to maintain basic functions, is multiplied by the activity factor, which considers the energy spent on activities such as cleaning the house, working and practicing physical activities.
How to calculate basal energy expenditure
The formula for calculating basal energy expenditure varies according to the person's sex, weight and age:
|
Age |
Woman |
Man |
|---|---|---|
|
0 to 3 years |
(58.317 x weight in kg) – 31.1 | (59.512 x weight in kg) – 30.4 |
|
3 to 10 years |
(20.315 x weight in kg) + 485.9 | (22.706 x weight in kg) + 504.3 |
|
10 to 18 years old |
(13.384 x weight in kg) + 692.6 | (17.686 x weight in kg) + 658.2 |
|
18 to 30 years old |
(14.818 x weight in kg) + 486.6 | (15.057 x weight in kg) + 692.2 |
|
30 to 60 years |
(8.126 x weight in kg) + 845.6 | (11.472 x weight in kg) + 873.1 |
|
≥ 60 years |
(9.082 x weight in kg) + 658.5 | (11.711 x weight in kg) + 587.7 |
How the activity factor is defined
The activity factor values consider the average between the time and type of activities performed throughout the day:
- Light: average factor of 1, 55: considers activities such as cooking; clean the house; take care of kids; work sitting; and walk up to 1 hour a day;
- Moderate: average factor of 1. 84: includes activities such as doing an hour of running, cycling, swimming, or dancing a day; work as a construction worker, waiter, door-to-door salesman, postman or light goods delivery man;
- Intense: average factor of 2, 2: considers activities such as swimming, running, cycling or dancing two hours a day; rural worker who works with hand tools and walks long distances, several hours a day; or heavy goods delivery.
Example of calculating daily calorie expenditure
To find out the caloric expenditure of a 32-year-old woman weighing 70 kg who works seated and walks 5 times a week, the calculator makes the following calculations:
Basal Energy Expenditure: (8.126 x Weight) + 845.6=1414.42 calories.
Total daily calorie expenditure: 1414, 42 calories x activity factor (1.55).
The total number of calories this woman burns is 2102.35 calories per day.
Difference between basal energy expenditure and total caloric expenditure
Basal energy expenditure is the amount of energy the body spends just to maintain the body's basic functions, such as breathing, heartbeat or brain function, when fasting and resting.
The total caloric expenditure also includes the amount of energy the body needs to do other day-to-day activities such as cooking, working, training, dancing or walking, for example.
How caloric expenditure can vary
There are several factors that can influence caloric expenditure, one of them is body weight, because the greater the weight, the greater the effort the body needs to make to perform the same tasks as a person with less weight, for example.
Another factor is the type and time of activities performed throughout the day. For example, a person who works all day sitting and does not practice physical activity uses less energy than a person who works all day sitting, but who practices 5 hours of physical activity per week.
In addition, situations such as pregnancy, surgery or malnutrition accelerate metabolism, increasing daily caloric expenditure.
Because it is important to know your calorie expenditure
Knowing your daily caloric expenditure is important, especially for those who are concerned about weight, as it is a tool that helps you understand how many calories you should eat per day to achieve different goals, whether maintaining weight, losing weight or gaining weight.
If you want to lose weight, you should eat fewer calories than you burn. To maintain weight, you should consume the approximate amount of calories. As for those who want to gain weight, it is recommended to eat more calories than you burn throughout the day. See how many calories you should eat per day according to your goal.
