Calories are something we need daily to survive but most people have way more than the necessary amount of calories every day.
It is not hard to go over how many you need with all the fatty foods and beverages that we are exposed to all day long.
It is also hard to determine the amount you need because everyone is different and where one person might need one amount of daily calories another person can need a totally different amount.
Some of the factors that determine how many calories your body should have daily are how old you are, whether you are male or female, how fast your metabolism is, your genes, your body type, and how active of a person you are.
We will look at each of these factors in greater detail.
The amount of calories you need are affected by how old you are.
When you are young and an adolescent you need a lot more calories sine you are growing a developing constantly.
Up until the age of 25 you need more calories than you will later on in age.
Every decade after 25 that you age the amount of calories your body needs starts to decline by 2 percent.
You start to gain more fat as you age replacing muscle, which burns calories.
So this combination leads to you needing less calories because you don't have as much muscle burning calories.
Men and women have different calorie intakes necessary to stay healthy.
Men have around 15 percent more muscle than women which burns more calories on a daily basis.
This equates to men needing more calories than women.
The only time women need more calories is when they are pregnant and when they are breast feeding do to having another person to feed.
If a mother has to few calories when pregnant their health could diminish.
Knowing how much calories you need can be hard to know when you are pregnant so talking with your doctor is a great idea to get a proper amount.
Your metabolism is how fast you burn energy from food and is apart of bodily functions such as h=your heart pumping, digesting food and your lungs taking in oxygen.
Everyone has a different metabolism which results in how many calories they need.
If you have what most people call a fast metabolism then you need more calories since your body burns through the energy it gets from food at a faster rate.
A simple way to find out how many calories you need just for bodily functions are multiplying your body weight by 11 if you are a man or 10 if you are a woman.
If you are an athlete or physical daily then you will need more calories since you will burn a lot while you are active.
Genes are something people get lucky on when they have a fast metabolism.
Your parents usually pass down a certain metabolic rate that you inherit.
This is not one of the factors you can change since it comes naturally.
Body types are a very big factor in determining how many calories you need.
People that are more fit and in shape often have more muscle which burns more calories and requires more daily calorie intake.
If you are more sedentary and overweight then you have more fat on your body which does not burn calories and allows you to need fewer calories.
This is one of the paradoxes because most people that are overweight eat more calories than fit people when in reality they don't need the extra calories and lead to further weight gain.
Lastly how active you are is a big indicator in your calorie needs.
Being active simply burns more calories.
The basic formula to weight loss is if you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight.
Not all exercise is equal though in the amount of calories you burn.
The intensity level is a big factor and is why a runner can run for hours and not burn as many calories as a weight trainer can in 30 minutes.