Male Daily Calorie Intake For Weight Loss

Last Updated on November 7, 2022 by

Dieting is hard. Seriously, it’s tough to stick with a diet and can be frustrating when you actually lose weight but then slowly regain it. At first you might feel like a yo-yo because of the weight bouncing back and forth, but there are certain things you can do to make losing weight easier.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to consistently consume the number of calories it would take for them to be successful with their weight loss goals. If you’re one of those people, I have good news for you. You don’t have to eat a really small amount of calories, or stay on a low basemen diet, in order to lose weight. You can still lose weight while eating enough calories to maintain your current bodyweight. If you want to know more about Male Daily Calorie Intake For Weight Loss, make sure you read this article.

Male Daily Calorie Intake For Weight Loss

a man eating porridge

PHOTOGRAPHER, BASAK GURBUZ DERMAN//GETTY IMAGES

Old school calorie-counting, it seems, is back in style.

For years diets like keto, Paleo, and “clean eating” reigned supreme, with a focus on limiting specific foods instead of overall food consumption. But according to the 2021 Food and Health Survey put out by the International Food Information Council, it seems that counting calories is once again the most popular way to diet.

Now, do men need to count every calorie in order to be healthy or achieve your fitness goals? Absolutely not.

But, is it helpful to have a basic understanding of how your body uses energy gained from food? You bet.

No doubt, you have some understanding of what a calorie is. After all, calorie counts are listed on packaged foods and on fast food menus, and it’s hard to have a conversation about nutrition or fitness without at least a few mentions of calories. Maybe you’ve even tried a popular calorie tracker like MyFitnessPal or Noom.

But do you really know what calories are, and why they’re so essential? And, do you have any idea how many calories you actually need in a day? (We mean the real number, not some general recommendation that a weight loss app might spit out.)

Here, we’ll go over the true definition of a calorie, as well as what factors influence your energy needs (aka, your metabolism) and how to estimate the number of calories that’s right for you.

What is a calorie?

Technically speaking, when we talk about calories, we’re actually talking about kilocalories. Per the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), one kilocalorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by one degree celsius.

So, calories are a measure of energy. All three macronutrients contain a set number of calories per gram: 4 calories per gram for carbs and protein, and 9 calorie per gram for fat. (Alcohol, which isn’t a macronutrient and has no nutritional value, contains 7 calories per gram.)

In addition to the unique functions of each macronutrient, their calories provide energy that our bodies use to function. We need calories to move around, but also for all the basic body functions that happen when we’re at rest, from DNA synthesis to hormone production to sending chemical messengers throughout the body in order to keep things running smoothly.

How many calories do men need to eat?

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average American man under 40 is 5 foot 9 and weighs 197 pounds. At a moderate activity level (moderate exercise 3 to 5 times per week), he would need about 2,822 calories per day to maintain his weight.

To lose weight

If weight loss is the goal, the USDA says that cutting your calorie intake by 500 to 1000 calories per day can lead to safe weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week. For our average American guy, that’s between 1,822 and 2,322 calories per day. That said, cutting calories drastically can backfire, as you may end up getting so hungry that you overeat.

It’s also important to factor in exercise: If you’re burning 500 calories per day through physical activity, cutting 1000 calories would actually lead to a deficit of 1,500 calories, which is too much.

To gain weight

If you’re trying to gain weight, the Cleveland Clinic recommends increasing your calorie intake by 300 to 500 calories per day—3,122 to 3,322 calories per day for the average guy, assuming his activity level stays the same.

“The primary factors that determine how many calories someone needs include birth sex, age, genetics, body size, and daily activity level,” says Anya Rosen, M.S., R.D., a New York-based dietitian. “Other variables can play a significant role, such as body composition, dieting behaviors, injury, or illness.”

In general, men burn more calories than women because they’re typically larger overall. Men are also predisposed to having more muscle and less fat mass, which impacts calorie burn, explains Kyle Gonzalez, M.S., C.S.C.S., an exercise scientist and performance coach at Future.

Injury and illness can also temporarily increase the amount of calories you need. Healing from major burns or other large open wounds requires extra energy and protein. Cancer can drastically increase your calorie burn. If you have a fever, you need extra calories to make up for your higher body temperature. Even fighting off the common cold takes energy.

How to calculate your calorie needs

Although it’s possible to estimate how many calories you need in a day, there’s one huge caveat: “There are many different formulas available to determine calorie needs, but they all have large margins of error due to there being too many influential variables to control,” Rosen says.

Scientists use a method called indirect calorimetry to measure exactly how many calories a person burns in a day, but it’s expensive, time-consuming, and pretty inaccessible for most people.

If you’re curious about your exact calorie needs, here’s how to determine it for yourself.

Typical Calorie Intake for Men

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses a 2,000 calorie per day diet as an example on the Nutrition Facts label. The number is used to provide information about Daily Values and Percent Daily Value (%DV).1 But it is not a recommendation to eat 2,000 calories.

A calorie calculator is helpful when you are trying to figure out how many calories to eat per day. To use this calculator, you’ll need to input your age, height (in feet and inches), activity level, and current weight. You will also need to input a goal weight and a target date to reach your goal. Keep in mind that if your goal is weight loss, a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week is considered healthy and reasonable.2

How Active Are You?

As an example, an average height, 32-year-old man who weighs 160 pounds and is moderately active will require about 2,608 calories a day to maintain his weight. However, his calorie needs will change if he wants to gain or lose weight.

According to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommended calorie intake for adult men ranges from 2,200 to 3,200 calories per day.3 Your specific calorie needs will vary, which is why the calculator is helpful.

Calorie Needs for Men vs. Women

Almost every calorie calculator will take sex into account, in addition to weight and activity level. That’s because a man’s body generally requires more energy (in the form of calories).4

Men generally have more muscle mass than women.5 The extra muscle requires more energy. Men are usually taller than women and the extra height also leads to increased calorie needs.6

But even in similarly sized men and women, men often need more calories. Men generally have an increased lung capacity—as indicated by a greater average VO2 max—which allows them to work harder during exercise and physical activity and also requires more calories to maintain.7

Calories for Men to Maintain Weight

To maintain your weight, you want to consume enough food to meet your daily energy needs. If you don’t eat enough calories per day, you will lose fat and muscle mass. If you eat too many calories per day, your body will store the excess energy as fat.

You can use a calculator to find out how many calories you burn each day. Or scan these average calorie numbers for men to see how much energy you use each day and how many calories you should consume to maintain your weight.

Based on numbers provided by the calorie calculator, here’s the average calorie number for a man who wants to maintain his current weight based on a moderately active man of average height (approximately 5’10”) who weighs 175 pounds:

  • 20-year-old man: 2806 calories per day
  • 30-year old man: 2728 calories per day
  • 40-year old man: 2651 calories per day
  • 50-year old man: 2573 calories per day
  • 60-year old man: 2496 calories per day
  • 70-year old man: 2418 calories per day
  • 80-year old man: 2341 calories per day

If you are sedentary or lightly active you should consume fewer calories per day to maintain your weight. If you are very active (you work a job that includes physical labor and/or you exercise vigorously on a regular basis) you should consume more calories per day to maintain your weight.

You might notice that the number of calories you need declines with age. As we get older, our metabolism slows down and we don’t need as much food (energy) to fuel our bodies. Your metabolism may slow because of a decrease in muscle mass8 or because of a slower lifestyle. We typically become less active as we get older.9

Calories for Men to Gain Weight

But what if you want to gain weight? How many calories should a man eat to bulk up his muscle mass? You will need to consume more than your daily energy needs to gain weight, but you should also be mindful of the kind of calories you consume.

While experts used to recommend an energy surplus of 500 to 1000 calories per day to gain a pound of body weight, more recent research has called those numbers into question.10

Researchers now suggest that the energy surplus needed to gain a pound of muscle will vary by individual. But as a starting point, they suggest adding approximately 360 to 480 calories per day. Then, monitor changes in body composition and functional capacity to further personalize dietary interventions.11

To get an idea of the average calories per day for a man to gain weight, scan these estimates to see how many calories it would take to increase a man’s weight from 160 pounds to 180 pounds at a rate of 1 pound per week:

  • 20-year-old man: 3230 calories per day
  • 30-year old man: 3153 calories per day
  • 40-year old man: 3075 calories per day
  • 50-year old man: 2998 calories per day

To make sure that you gain muscle weight and not excess fat, tailor your daily diet to promote lean mass. Focus on eating more protein, fewer processed foods with added sugars, and limit your intake of refined carbohydrates. You should also focus on healthy sources of fat and avoid eating too much saturated fat or foods with trans fat.

So how much protein is enough? Protein needs for men will vary based on your activity level. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, to increase your muscle mass you need to participate in a program of strength training. In addition, you should consume 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (or 0.5 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight).12

Good sources of lean protein include lean meat (lean cuts of beef, bison, lamb, and pork), poultry (chicken breast or turkey), egg whites, legumes, seafood, and low-fat or nonfat dairy.

Calories for Men to Lose Weight

If your goal is to lose weight, you’ll want to create a calorie deficit for weight loss. A man should eat fewer calories than he needs to lose weight effectively. As a starting point, you can cut approximately 500 calories per day, or 3500 calories per week. But you’ll want to tailor your number based on the changes in your body composition.

Some weight loss plans for men provide for about 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day, for a weight loss of 1 to 1.5 pounds per week.13 But your individual needs may vary. Working with a registered dietitian can help you to personalize your number in a way that is sustainable.

Again, age and activity level is very important. If you participate in frequent, vigorous exercise or if you work at a job that includes plenty of physical labor, you can consume more calories and still lose weight.

Macronutrient balance is important in weight loss. When you cut calories, try to build meals around lean sources of protein and healthy sources of carbohydrate like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Protein and fiber-rich healthy carbohydrates will help you to feel full and satisfied so you can stick to your meal plan. Include healthy sources of fat to boost satiety and keep your body healthy.

Tracking your food intake

“I find that the best way for you to determine your calorie needs (assuming you are outside of a research setting) starts with ensuring that you are currently maintaining your weight,” Rosen says.

“Once weight is stable, track your food intake for 1 to 2 weeks without changing how you would normally eat. The average calories across that time frame is a good estimate for your maintenance caloric needs, and you can adjust from there according to your goals.”

In other words: If your weight isn’t changing, you’re eating the right number of calories.

A metabolism calculator

You can also try using a formula to estimate your calorie needs, which is easy to do with an online calorie calculator from a trusted source. This one, from the American Council on Exercise (ACE), takes into account your age, weight, gender, height, and activity level, from sedentary to very active to determine your calorie needs.

How does muscle mass affect calorie burn?

Muscle burns more calories by weight than body fat, although the difference isn’t as big as it’s sometimes made out to be. “The claim “muscle burns more calories than fat” is true, but misleading,” Rosen says.

The best estimate we have is that a pound of muscle burns six to seven calories a day. “That’s equivalent to about one slice of cucumber,” Rosen says. Fat, on the other hand, burns about two calories in the same time period. So, increasing muscle will increase the number of calories you burn — as will gaining fat, though to a lesser degree — but not drastically. An extra 10 pounds of muscle may only add 60 calories per day to your overall calorie expenditure.

In fact, the size of other body parts probably plays a more significant role in your daily calorie needs. One 2011 study found that more than 40 percent of differences in total calorie burn between people could be explained by the variations in the size of their internal organs.

How does exercise affect calorie burn?

Of course, your activity level plays a big role in your energy needs. It’s not just your workouts that burn calories, it’s also how much you move around at work and at home. A physically demanding job burns far more calories than one that has you sitting at a desk most of the day, and making your daily commute on bike or foot, instead of in a car, can make a big difference as well. When determining your physical activity level, it’s important to take all of this into account.

And yes, you’ll also need to consider your workouts. “With cardio training, you tend to not only burn calories quicker, but you also burn more total calories per session,” Gonzalez says. “Strength training, on the other hand, is usually anaerobic (without oxygen) in nature and helps you build muscle and boost your metabolism.” You’ll burn fewer calories per session, he explains, but your metabolic rate (the number of calories burned) will remain elevated for longer afterwards. Plus, you’ll build muscle mass, which slightly increases your calorie burn and can support better health overall.

“A healthy mixture of both strength and cardio training with varying intensity, frequency, duration, and type is always best when building out your exercise program,” Gonzalez says.

Do you need to count calories?

Ultimately, there’s no need to count calories in order to be healthy. If you feel good and have consistent energy levels throughout the day, you probably don’t need to worry about calculating your calorie needs, because chances are you’re hitting your target.

But if you’re worried that you’re eating too few or too many calories, understanding what contributes to calorie burn can help you understand your body’s needs.

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