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Monday, November 21, 2011

How Many Calories Do I Need?

Original Article

how-many-calories-do-i-need
Knowing how many calories you burn in a day will give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating, or should be storing for emergency use later. Your body burns calories in three different ways… metabolism, physical activity, and digestion.
Metabolism – Your body needs energy every day to survive — even when you are sleeping. Your heart is constantly pumping, your body is working at maintaining a normal body temperature, your brain is always ‘on’, damage is being repaired, all systems are requiring fuel. Roughly 60% to 70% of the calories you burn every day is from keeping all of your body’s systems working!
Physical Activity – Your body burns calories through any sort of physical activity, ranging from just walking around, to formal exercise, or any type of movement. The amount of calories you burn from physical activity can be anywhere from 25% to 40% of the total amount of calories you burn in a day.

Digesting Food – Your body also uses up energy to digest the food you eat, although it only accounts for about 5% to 10% of calories burned.

For those who wish to lose some weight, if you eat less calories than your body burns, you will create a ‘calorie deficit’ — and your body will burn your excess body fat to make up the difference.
For those who wish to be sure they have enough survival preparedness food storage, either at home, or in a kit of some sort, knowing your daily caloric requirement is essential.

There are variations to everything, but the following two examples should give you an idea. Note that during an emergency or disaster situation, you may be burning more calories than you normally would be, due to a probable increase in your physical activity.
A 200 pound, 6’2″ man 40 years of age who is ‘lightly active’ during a typical day will require 2,700 calories to maintain body systems function without gaining or losing weight. That same person will require 3,400 calories that day if he is ‘very active’ and 3,800 calories if ‘extremely active’.
A 140 pound, 5’7″ woman 40 years of age who is ‘lightly active during a typical day will require 1,900 calories, but if ‘very active’ will require 2,400 calories, and if ‘extremely active’ will require 2,600 calories to maintain body systems function without gaining or losing weight.


Check your own stats and search for ‘calorie deficit calculator’ or ‘weight loss calculator’ to determine what your body normally consumes in a day. Then, if you are overweight and want to trim down a bit (to be in better shape for a SHTF scenario?) these calculators should help you determine a reduced calorie intake. Or, you may simply want to determine if your storage food plan will provide enough calories per day for your needs (I have a feeling that some folks underestimate the calories that they will actually need each day to survive).
Yes, there’s more to it… exercise, proper nutrition, etc. – but let’s start with the calories.

Daily Calorie Requirements

Male, 5’11″, 190 pounds, lightly active
20-year-old: 2,800 calories

30-year-old: 2,700 calories

40-year-old: 2,600 calories

50-year-old: 2,500 calories


60-year-old: 2,400 calories

70-year-old: 2,300 calories
Daily Calorie Requirements

Female, 5’5″, 150 pounds, lightly active
20-year-old: 2,100 calories

30-year-old: 2,000 calories

40-year-old: 1,900 calories

50-year-old: 1,900 calories

60-year-old: 1,800 calories


70-year-old: 1,800 calories

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