Calorie Math
I’ve seen calculators purporting to calculate your daily calorie needs, but, until surfing the web this morning, I’ve never seen the following explanation: to maintain your current weight, you need to intake about 12 calories per pound of that current weight per day (and the corollary: if you want to lose weight you should take in less than 12 calories per pound of weight per day).
So much for the 2,000 calorie/day “diet” on which all the nutrition labels are based, unless 167 is your ideal weight. Have fun with mathematics as you try to recalculate the “percent daily value” column on your nutrition labels to fit your actual weight. Once again, math class proves its worth on the street and in the grocery aisle.
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September 19th, 2007 @ 11:07 am
I’d never heard that either, but it makes sense. Well, the theory makes sense — I have no idea whether 12 is the right number or not.
I wonder if the 2000 c/day “rule” reflects something like the average weight of an American man at some point in the 20th century.
And now I wonder where the +300/day for pregnant and +500/day for lactating numbers come from.