Daily Maintenance Calorie Calculation

This section may seem simplistic to some of you, but probably the most common element between fitness programs, regardless of your goals, is proper diet. There are many components of this element, the most basic of which is caloric intake.
  • If you want to gain mass you must take in more than you burn.
  • Conversely, if you want to lose weight you must run in caloric deficit
Through speaking with most of my acquaintances it's blatantly obvious that most people don’t know what their maintenance calorie intake is, let alone how to calculate it. Here's a couple of methods that you can employ.
     
  Method 1, 7 day average.
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1 Get up one morning, strip naked and weigh yourself  
Record the weight 171.50
Record the time 4:00 AM
     
2 From that moment on eat normally for a period of 7 days.  
Record the amount of calories in each and every item that you consume 25,885
Keep a running total as you go, it'll make it easier later on
     
3 On the morning of the 8th day strip naked and weigh yourself  
Do it at the same time and on the same scale as in step 1 173.00
     
4 Subtract the weight in step 1 from the weight in step 2. If the result is a positive number, you've gained weight, if it's a negative then you've lost weight. This is your delta w. 1.50
     
5 Now, to determine to determine your caloric surplus or deficit multiply the result in step 4 by 2675. This is your total caloric surplus/(deficit) 4,013
Conventional thinking is that there is about 3500 calories per lb of delta w. This assumes that 100% of any weight gain/loss is fat. Since most of us here are on a fitness program there will be some muscle gain/loss as well. Since there are fewer calories in a pound of muscle than fat I've found that using a weighted average of fat and muscle is more accurate for this calculation.
     
6 Subtract the result of step 5 from the result in step 2 21,873
     
7 Finally, divide the result of step 6 by the number 7, this is your daily maintenance requirement. 3,125
     
  Method 2, 7 day running average.
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1 Record your weight at the same time and conditions every day for 14 days  
1 169.00
2 173.00
3 171.50
4 172.00
5 171.50
6 169.00
7 170.00
8 171.50
9 171.50
10 171.00
11 169.00
12 171.50
13 174.00
14 175.00
     
2 On the 7th day calculate your average weight for the past week, continue this calculation to the end of the 14 days  
7 170.86
8 171.21
9 171.00
10 170.93
11 170.50
12 170.50
13 171.21
14 171.93
     
     
3 Eat normally for a period of 7 days starting with day 8  
Record the amount of calories in each and every item that you consume 25,885
Keep a running total as you go, it'll make it easier later on  
   
4 Subtract the average weight in step 2, day 8 from the average weight in step 2 day 14. If the result is a positive number, you've gained weight, if it's a negative then you've lost weight. This is your delta w. 0.71
     
5 Now, to determine to determine your caloric surplus or deficit multiply the result in step 4 by 2675. This is your total caloric surplus/(deficit) 1,911
Conventional thinking is that there is about 3500 calories per lb of delta w. This assumes that 100% of any weight gain/loss is fat. Since most of us here are on a fitness program there will be some muscle gain/loss as well. Since there are fewer calories in a pound of muscle than fat I've found that using a weighted average of fat and muscle is more accurate for this calculation.
     
6 Subtract the result of step 5 from the result in step 2 23,975
     
7 Finally, divide the result of step 6 by the number 7, this is your daily maintenance requirement. 3,425
A couple of notes:
  • Caloric requirements are dynamic. They change based on your activity level, meal spacing, dietary make-up, water intake, even ambient temperature makes a difference. Check it periodically if you want to be successful. Personally I keep tabs on mine daily.
  • This is an estimate. Adjust up or down accordingly.
  • Method 2, although more complicated, is a more accurate method, especially if you intend to track your maintenance requirements on a daily basis