How to Figure Out Your Daily Calorie Needs

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is basically the amount of calories you would burn in a 24 hour period of time if you just lounged around (were at rest) the entire 24 hours. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is similar but is a much more accurate number because of how the test is performed.

Read this: BMR Versus RMR for more information on the terms and how they are calculated.

I’ve talked a few times about my RMR and I always cite a specific number 2232. That’s because I had a RMR breathing test (gas analysis) performed at Apple Athletic Club (my gym). You don’t have to get a test to figure out your RMR. There are specific calculations that will give you an estimate of this number based on your age, sex, height, and weight.

Luckily, there are a whole bunch of different fitness sites that have these calculators built in so you don’t have to do the math on yourself. I’ve included a few of them in this post. The pics are of my personal info that I plugged into the each of the calculators so you can see how their numbers compare. Click on the link above each photo to get to the actual calculator.

Almost all of the calculators had me input my “activity level.” Even though I’m not sedentary, I chose that activity level on each of the calculators because I wanted the number closest to my RMR. If I chose “active” the calculators would give me a higher calorie number because it would account for the calories burned during my physical activity.

As you can see my breathing test number is much higher than the numbers the calculators gave me. That’s because the calculators are based on statistics.

My recommendation, if you don’t want to pay to have a test done, is to choose one calculator and stick with the number it gives you. If after a few weeks you begin to see positive results then you know it’s working.

If I was going to use the numbers from a calculator I would use MyFitnessPal because it’s the app I already use. I used it before I had my RMR tested. And, I still use it to track my calories and macros based on the number from my test.

If you are already using MyFitnessPal and it gave you a daily calorie goal based on the information you entered then your RMR has already been calculated. The number it gave you is: [(RMR) + (your activity level multiplier)] – (calories subtracted based on the amount of weight you told it you wanted to lose per week) = Your Daily Calorie Goal