Are you concerned about how much to eat without eating too little or too much? Then, you are in the right place. A person's daily energy intake is dependent on his/her Ideal body weight( height in cm -100), and activity level. It is important to note that a person's Ideal body weight is different from his/her current body weight. This is because a person's current may be reflecting past poor eating habits which has resulted into undernutrition(chronic energy deficiency) or overnutrition (obesity). It is therefore dangerous to base one's daily energy need on one's current body weight. Basing it on Ideal Body Weight which is an index of what a person should weigh at a particular height is safer.
Furthermore, a person can be sedentary(office secretary), normal(students), or active(manual workers in building construction) with a value of 25,30, and 35 respectively.
Now is the time to determine your daily energy need. For example, your height is 1.5m/150cm, you are a student(normal activity=30), and have a current body weight of 70kg.
Your daily energy need will be: Ideal Body Weight* activity level
Your Ideal Body Weight= your height in cm(150)- 100
150-100=50kg
Activity level for a student is normal= 30
Therefore your daily energy need in kilocalories= 50*30
=1500kcal of energy per day.
NOTE: In the calculation, the current body weight is not used because it is not reliable. Ideal body weight was used in place of it.
For a layman, the 1500kcal need of energy is still not clear enough. How can the kilocalorie value be converted to its equivalent amount of food in gram? The next post will explain.

by OGEDENGBE FUNMINIYI