How many calories—exactly—should I be eating per day?

older couple smiling with a plate of salad
older couple smiling with a plate of salad

Calories in vs. calories out…

It is the simplest and most effective way to understand if you will gain or lose weight: 

• If you eat more calories than you expend, you’re in a caloric surplus and will gain weight. 
• If you eat fewer calories than you expend, you’re in a caloric deficit, and you will lose weight

By and large, no matter what type of food you’re eating (Paleo, Keto, Atkins, etc.), if you’re able to track calories consumed vs. expended, you can find a way to drop the weight you’d like to. 

The calculation itself is super simple, but you might struggle with figuring out how many calories you should be eating in a day. 

We’re here to help! 

Here’s exactly how many calories you should be eating daily to hit your weight loss goals.

How to calculate your ideal calorie count

Smartphone and calories calculator concept.

There are a few factors that influence the ideal amount of calories you want to eat in a day:

1. Your age
2. Your height
3. Your weight
4. Your gender
5. Your activity level
6. Your goal (weight loss, weight gain, or maintenance)

Jot those answers down #1-6. Got them? Good. 

Next, you’re going to use the Harris-Benedict Method to find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). 

BMR is just the number of calories your body needs to perform basic life-sustaining functions. So if you just wanted to sit in a chair all day and breathe, you’d still need to eat as many calories as your BMR indicates. 

The Harris-Benedict Method is a way to find your BMR. Here’s the formula (use pounds and inches): 

Men: 66 + [6.2 × weight] + [12.7 × height] – [6.76 × age]
Women: 655 + [4.35 × weight] + [4.7 × height] – [4.7 × age]

Let’s say you’re a 6-foot-tall, 200-lb man who is 60 years old and moderately active. 

Your BMR would be: 1,815 calories. 

66 + [1,240] + [914] – [405] = 1,815 BMR

Last, we need to account for your lifestyle and physical expenditure. 

• Sedentary: Multiply by 1.2
• Moderately Active: Multiply by 1.3
• Very Active: Multiply by 1.4

Continuing our example, we’ll multiply our BMR of 1,815 by 1.3 and get… 2,360 calories. 

A moderately active man who is 60 years old, is 6 feet tall, and weighs 200 lbs should eat 2,360 calories daily to maintain his current weight. 

Let’s run the same calculation for a very active 55-year-old woman who is 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighs 165lbs: 

655 + [718] + [310] – [259] = 1,424 BMR

Now, since she is very active, we multiply by 1.4, and we get… 1,994 calories. 

A very active woman who is 55 years old, 5’6”, and weighs 165 should eat 1,994 calories daily to maintain her current weight. 

Nifty, right? 

To obtain a caloric deficit (lose weight), subtract 200 calories from your number. 

So—are you able to calculate your ideal calorie count? Pull out your phone calculator and use the formula above. 

Here’s what to do next…

Using your ideal daily calorie intake to hit your goals

Senior couple preparing food in the kitchen.

Now that you have your daily calorie goal, it’s time to use that number to create a nutrition plan to reach your weight goals

Here are some general guidelines and steps you can take to stay as close to your ideal caloric intake every day.

Monitor your calorie intake

Writing, book and a senior woman author sitting outdoor in summer for inspiration as a writer.

The whole ‘counting calories’ cliché is actually the best way to hit your weight-loss goals. Monitor your food intake with tools like food diaries or apps to ensure you stay within your calorie goal.

Choose your food wisely

Beautiful and healthy Asian-aged woman eating healthy green salad with chicken breast in her dining room. Healthy and wellbeing lifestyle.

Since you’re going to be limiting the amount of calories you ingest, it’s important to ensure you’re getting enough nutrition with the foods you do eat. Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods that provide essential vitamins and minerals while being lower in calories.

If you partake in alcohol consumption, it would be best to stop or reduce it. While alcohol does contain calories, it offers basically no nutritional value. 

Meal prep

Healthy lunch at the workplace. Pick up food in black containers with Cutlery on a yellow background

Preparing your meals in advance is an excellent way to ensure precise control over portion sizes and nutritional content, ensuring you stay within your daily calorie goals. By preparing your meals in advance, you can reduce the temptation to eat out or choose unhealthy options. This helps maintain a consistent diet conducive to weight loss or health goals.

Habitually review your progress

Flexible senior woman stretching outdoors after jog

Regularly review and adjust your plan based on progress, making changes to your diet and exercise routine as necessary for continued weight loss. Considering make your progress less about the number on the scale and more about the number of days you are able to stick to your pan. 

Over time, eliminating just 150 calories daily can help you lose as much as 15 pounds in a year.

Consistency gets results!

Regulate your digestive system

Dynamic Biotics

In order to get as much nutrition out of your food as possible—and experience less bloating—it’s important to regulate your digestive system. One way to do that is to supplement with probiotics. 

Probiotics are the ‘good’ bacteria that are found in your gut, helping you digest what you eat and giving you the nutritional value from the food you consume.

Dynamic Biotics from Stonehenge Health supports the growth of beneficial gut microbes to promote digestive health.* Help your body do its part in your weight loss journey by feeding it what it wants—probiotics.

“I have taken many probiotics, and this one so far beats them all! My stomach is a lot calmer, and I can sleep better, too. This probiotic helps with my acid reflux as well.” – Joanne S., Calabasas, CA*

Cheers to eating right, feeling great, and hitting your goals!


3 Reasons Most Diets Are Doomed to Fail 

older couple smiling eating together
older couple smiling eating together

We’ve all been there. You’ve been busy enjoying your life, and suddenly, you look in the mirror and aren’t happy with who’s looking back. 

If the extra pounds have snuck up on you, for many, the go-to answer is dieting, but…

83% of diets fail!

At least according to research published by UCLA Health.1

Does that really mean nobody sticks to a diet?

In short, yes. 

But to fully understand the impact on your weight loss, nutrition, and chronic disease management, it’s a lot more helpful to look at what  these two terms mean: 

1. Diet
2. Failure

At its core, a diet is simply the food and beverages you ingest. A diet can be designed to facilitate weight loss or other health objectives, or it can be based on cultural or lifestyle choices like Mediterranean, Paleo, Keto, Vegan, or because of religious mandates, etc.

Failure, in terms of dieting, usually refers to either regaining the weight you lost on account of dieting or simply abandoning the diet’s food selection criteria entirely. 

The statistics shed some light on the issue: 

• 42% of adults globally are attempting to lose weight
• 23% are trying to maintain their weight
• 45 million Americans go on a diet each year
• Americans spend $33 billion each year on weight loss products2

If diets have failed for you in the past, you’re not alone. 

Clearly, a substantial effort is put into dieting, so why do so many people not see success?

Top 3 reasons most diets fail

Healthy nutrition concept. Fruits and vegetables vs sweets and unhealthy food.

There’s no singular reason why dieting efforts fail at such a high rate, but as we researched studies, there are three recurring themes that tend to stand out: 

1. Unsustainable methods

Tape measure wrapped around hands

Many diets are based on restrictive or unsustainable methods that are difficult to maintain long-term. Unsustainable methods can include severe calorie restriction, eliminating whole food groups, or relying on meal replacements.

Basically, trying to upend a major part of your life abruptly, the amounts or types of food you eat have about the same shelf life as the average New Year’s resolution, short-lived.

2. Psychological factors

Older woman looks sad and stressed

Psychological factors, such as emotional eating, stress, and lack of motivation, play a significant role in the failure of diets. Many diets do not address these underlying issues, which can lead to their failure.

As life events unfold and inevitably bring stress into your life, it can be too easy to slide back into the comfort of unhealthy foods. Or, you may find that the nature of your stress has simply de-prioritized your diet in favor of dealing with the new stressors.

3. Metabolic adaptations

Metabolism Medical Concept. Diet Nutrition Immunity Human Health.

The body can adapt to lower calorie intake by slowing down metabolism, making it harder to lose weight over time and easier to regain the LBs once normal eating patterns are resumed.

When your body fights against your plan to diet, this can be particularly frustrating because you’ve done so much hard work from a mental perspective. Luckily, there are ways to enhance your body’s response to the foods you eat.

One method of helping to regulate your body’s response to food is through adding digestive enzymes.

Helping Your Body Digest

Incredible Digestive Enzymes

Incredible Digestive Enzymes from Stonehenge Health is a blend of 18 multi-functioning enzymes specially formulated to help you digest your food the way your body was meant to – without having to think and worry about discomfort.* 

If you struggle with digesting protein, carbs, dairy, fiber & gluten, Incredible Digestive Enzymes helps promote a healthy digestive system and relieve occasional gas, bloating, and stomach discomfort. *

Now, you can enjoy the healthy foods you love without planning your day around the inconvenience of occasional digestion woes.

Sources:
1. uclahealth.org/news/dieting-does-not-work-ucla-researchers-report
2. livestrong.com/article/13764581-weight-loss-statistics/