Calories calculator

[SpongeBob]

Hey guys,

What do you use to know accurately how much calories you need to eat in order to reach your goals ?

I've done some research and used a couple of free calculators available out there, but they often give different results so I'm not too sure what to follow. The one in MyFitnessPal is fairly limited as it only offers gaining 0,25kg or 0,5kg per week. I want to calculate to go even lower than that.

Just to calculate my base calorie needs, some calculator give me 2300, others 2500, others 2600... It's a bit confusing. I don't know what to believe and how to calculate my calories intake in order to plan my meal intake.

Looking forward your suggestions.

 

[AskTheDom]

So there isn't a "scientific accurate" BM calculator because everyone is different, I would say it goes in ranges from averages observations.
The best way to get around this is to take your weekly average weight by eating the same amount of foods (so you know your "supposed" caloric intake) - go about your life as usual - take measurements of your body (neck,shoulders,chest,arms, waist, leg) - and proceed for a month. in that way you know a pretty much good range of where your BM with your "average" lifestyle ends up.
From there you can move around with the calories - extra exercise and see where you end.
It's important to take daily measurements and take the median weekly for comparison as our bodies react differently to food/exercise/sleep/stress on day to day bases (maybe one day you had too much carbs and you are heavier because of extra water that get flushed out within couple of days)

Another great app is >Cronometer that has a bit more detailed description of micros but doesn't have the same food database as myfitnesspal (although if you follow a diet regime pretty stable you shouldn't have this issue)