How many calories a day?

[t1espo]

How does the Weight loss & dieting app determine how many calories a day is needed?  I put in all my profile information and I put in my goal weight. The app determined that I should have 1780 calories a day. That sounds high to me. Any ideas on this will be much appreciated.

[t1espo]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply. It helped a great deal.

[manishshah]

The number of calories the body consumes in a day is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the "percent daily values" are based on a 2,000 calorie diet -- 2,000 calories is a rough average of what people eat in a day. But your body might need more or less than 2,000. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. There are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day:

basal metabolic rate
physical activity
thermic effect of food
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the eyelids blinking and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women. One of the most accurate methods of estimating your basal metabolic rate is the Harris-Benedict formula:

The second factor in the equation, physical activity, consumes the next highest number of calories. Physical activity includes everything from making your bed in the morning to jogging. Walking, lifting, bending and just generally moving around burns calories, but the number of calories you burn in any given activity depends on your body weight. Click here for a great table listing the calories expended in various physical activities and for various weights.

The thermic effect of food is the final addition to the number of calories your body burns. This is the amount of energy your body uses to digest the food you eat -- it takes energy to break food down to its basic elements in order to be used by the body. To calculate the number of calories you expend in this process, multiply the total number of calories you eat in a day by 0.10, or 10 percent. If you need some help determining how many calories you eat in a day:

CalorieKing: Food Data (includes fast-food options)
Calorie Counter (includes vending machine snacks)
NutritionData: Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter
The total number of calories a body needs in a day is the sum of these three calculations.

[Barb135]

It's a calculation, based on your current weight, height, age and activity level. Is 1780 your BMR?  If so, that's what you need to maintain your current weight, so you'd have to subtract calories in order to lose weight.

A pound is 3500 calories, so in order to lose a pound/week, you'd have to cut 500 calories/day (7 days X 500 calories = 3500).  An easier way is to cut 250 calories/day and use up an extra 250 to make up your 500.

Typically, the more you weigh, the more calories you'll need to eat to maintain and as you lose, your calorie allowance would come down.