Recommended Calorie Intake for Women

These days, everyone of us has become calorie conscious. Calories are considered as strong foes during a weight loss program. Food packets indicate the number of calories contributed by each of the ingredients. However, we should keep in mind that calories are not bad, but what is bad is the amount of calories that we consume.

Recommended Daily Calorie Intake for Women

The amount of calories to be consumed depends on a number of factors, which include physical activity, age, height, weight, gender, genes, etc. Hence, we can say that daily calorie requirement varies from person to person. However, the calorie intake for women can be calculated based on two factors, physical activity and basal metabolism rate (BMR). Keeping a count on calories consumed can be quite frustrating for all those girls and women trying to lose their weight. On an average, the recommended calories per day for women is 2000 calories.

One should keep in mind that eating just the required amount of calories is not enough, the sources of these calories should be healthy, so that, all the nutritional requirements of the body are fulfilled. The calories consumed can be divided into two groups, one group consists of the calories that are required to gain energy for daily activities like carbohydrates and proteins, while the other group is for important chemicals required, like vitamin and mineral.

Formula to Calculate Recommended Calories for Women

A number of researches and studies have been made to find out the exact amount of calories, that are required by a woman's body. Harris-Benedict formula is one of the popular methods to calculate daily calorie requirements. The formula calculates your daily calorie intake depending on your BMR and the physical activities or exercise that you perform. BMR is nothing but the speed of resting metabolism in your body, i.e. amount of calories you require to run the body functions, when at rest. The physical activities can be divided into four categories, they are, sedentary, lightly active, moderately active and very active. The formula to calculate BMR for women is given below,

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
OR
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)

Once BMR is calculated, the next step is to multiply a factor that is associated with the physical activity level. Use the chart given below for the multiplying factor.

Physical Activity Level	Multiplying Factor
Sedentary - Less or no exercise, Desk job	1.2
Lightly active - Light exercise, 1-3 times a week	1.375
Moderately Active - Moderate exercise, 3-5 times a week	1.55
Very Active - Hard exercise, 6-7 times a week	1.725

So, if your BMR is 1800 and physical activity level is sedentary, then daily calories needed are, BMR x 1.2 = 2160. Besides knowing the normal calorie intake for females, it is also necessary to know the amount of calories that carbohydrates, proteins and fats should contribute. A balanced diet should consist of 50-60% carbohydrates, 20-30% proteins and 20-30% fats contributing together, to the daily calories for women.

Knowing the daily calorie requirements for women can help you to either gain or lose weight. If you are trying to gain weight, then you must consume more amount of calories than required. While if you are trying to lose weight, then you must be eating less calories than required. Thus, respective changes in daily calorie intake should be made. Now, when you are aware of the recommended calorie intake for women you can easily maintain your weight.