Healthy Living Day 4: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Day 4: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Participant fufu asked this question yesterday after reading Day 3′s task:

I’m really curious to see if I’m over-eating or under-eating (probably under) and I have a question. What is the ideal calorie intake in a day? Is it 2,000? How do I know if I’m under or over my intake by the time I finish my (calorie) list?

This is an excellent question, and the answer is directly linked to today’s task! 

All of us have a calorie intake that we need to meet every day in order to sustain (1) our body’s energy needs at rest (this is the Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR, and it’s the amount of energy your body burns in a day if you simply rest the entire day) AND (2) our daily exercise and activity needs (such as walking, running, talking, typing at the computer, and so on). This daily calorie intake is represented by our Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE), which is the total number of calories you burn in an average day, including all the activities you do.

In equation terms,

Total Daily Energy Expenditure / TDEE= Basal Metabolic Rate / BMR (Calories burned when you do absolutely nothing) +Calories burned from activities (This is a calorie expenditure that occurs on top of your BMR)

Now, regardless whether you have weight loss goals, weight gain goals, or weight maintenance goals, it’s always useful to know your TDEE because it lets you know whether you’re overeating, undereating, or eating in line with your needs. Consume less calories than your TDEE, and you lose weight over time. Consume more calories than your TDEE, and you’ll gain weight soon enough. Consuming the same calories daily will lead to maintenance of your current weight.

To figure out how many calories you should consume a day to achieve your weight goals, you need to first know your TDEE. Hence, today’s task is to calculate your TDEE!

Step 1: Calculate Your TDEE

1. Calculate your BMR. Use this BMR counter. This is the energy requirements just to sustain your body and do absolutely nothing the whole day but lie on your bed, breathe, and rest.
2. Multiply #1 by 1.2. Most of us have some form of light activity, be it walking around the house, in our neighborhood, typing at our computer, or talking to someone on the phone. Multiplying your BMR by 1.2 gives you the calories you burn a day in a typical day with light activity.
3. Add your calorie expenditure via exercise. If you’re exercising, then you’ll definitely burn more calories than the number you got in the previous step. So, use this activity counter to know how many calories you’re burning with your exercises. Sum up this number with the answer from #2 and you’ll get your TDEE for the day!

So let’s say your BMR is 1400 and you went jogging today and burned 300 calories. Your TDEE will be,

1400 (this is your BMR) x 1.2 (you multiply by 1.2 to know your calorie expenditure on a light activity day) + 300 (this is your calorie expenditure from jogging)
= 1680 + 300 = 1980 calories

This means your calorie expenditure for the day is 1980! 

For me, my BMR is 1386, based 5′ 7″ height, 128 lbs weight, and age of 30. On a day with light activity, my TDEE is 1663 (my BMR x 1.2). My jogs usually expend anywhere from 150 to 250 calories (my Map My Run app gives me a gauge of calories burned, albeit a gross estimation), so my TDEE is around 1863 on a day when I exercise.

Step 2: Check back with your calorie intake figures from Day 3

What was your total calorie intake for Day 3? Did you consume in line, less than, or more than your TDEE?

If you’ve been losing weight, chances are you’ve been eating less than your TDEE.

If you’ve been gaining weight, chances are you’ve been eating more than your TDEE.

If you’ve been maintaining your weight, you’re probably eating in line with your TDEE!

Step 3: Calculate your calorie deficit/gain per day to achieve your weight goal

If you want to maintain your weight, simply eat in line with your TDEE from Step #1. Easy breezy!

If your goal is to lose weight though, you need to consume less calories than your TDEE. Similarly, if your goal is to gain weight, you need to consume more calories than your TDEE.

Note that it’s generally recommended not to set a daily calorie difference bigger than 500. So if your TDEE is 1700 and you want to lose weight, you should have a daily calorie intake between 1200 to <1700 calories. If you want to gain weight, you should have a daily calorie intake between 1700 and <2200.

By setting your ideal weight and the date you want to achieve this ideal weight, you can then work backwards and calculate your calories intake a day!

1. Calculate the difference between your ideal weight and current weight. If your ideal weight is 60kg and your current weight is 63kg, the difference is 3kg or 6.6lbs. (1kg = 2.2lbs)
2. Multiply answer #1 by 3,500. To lose 1 lb, you need a calorie deficit of 3500 calories. To gain 1 lb, you need a calorie over-intake of 3,500 calories. (While there’s debate on whether 3500 calories truly make up a pound, we’ll simply take the age-old assumption of 3,500 calories = 1 lb for simplicity’s sake.) So to know your total calorie deficit or gain, multiply the number from #1 with 3,500.  Example: If you have a 6.6lbs difference, that will be 6.6 (pounds) x 3500 (calories per pound)= 23,100 calories.
3. Divide answer from #2 by # of days to achieve ideal weight. When do you want to achieve your ideal weight? If you want to achieve your ideal weight by end of Feb (it’s Jan 4 now), that’s 55 days left. Then, divide answer #2 by the number of days left. Example: 23,100 / 56 = 413* calories per day.
   What this means is you need to either (1) consume 462 less calories per day vs. your TDEE, (2) burn 462 more calories than usual every day via extra exercise, and/or (3) do a combination of (1) and (2) to achieve your ideal weight of 60kg by end Feb.
   (* If this number is more than 500, meaning a calorie deficit or over-intake by 500 per day, then extend your deadline such that the number is 500 or below. Remember, it’s more important to have a sustained weight loss/gain than a dramatic loss/gain that rebounds later on!)

Next, Follow Your Plan for Day 4 (Take Pictures Too!)

What tasks have you set for Day 4 of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan? Do them today!

Take pictures of your healthy meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and mid-day snacks if any — and share them in the comments section.  After all, a picture tells a thousand words, and when you share photos of your healthy meals, it inspires others to eat healthily and gives them ideas on what healthy food they can have too!

Post your initial comment sharing your results for today’s challenge task, then add on throughout the day as you have your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or if you’re doing any workouts. Attach photos of your meals by clicking the image icon on the bottom left of every comment box. As you add on to your comment thread, be sure to click on the reply button directly below your original comment so that you reply to your own thread (as opposed to starting a new thread).

Share Your Results (and Photos!)

Share in the comments section!

1. Your TDEE, and how it matches up with your Day 3 calorie intake
2. Your weight goal (do you wish to lose, gain, or sustain your weight?), your ideal timeline to achieve this goal, and the calorie deficit/over-consumption per day to meet this goal
3. Your progress with your healthy living plan today
4. Pictures of your meals
5. Pictures of your workout (if any)

Do check out the other participants’ comments too and share a word of encouragement or two. We’re all in this together, so let’s support each other as a group! 

Stay tuned for Day 5′s task tomorrow! 

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