Body Mass Calculations

Body Mass Calculations

 

Body mass calculations are invaluable when deciding how many calories you should eat a day if you are bulking up or dieting. They provide a very accurate way of gaining you calorie expenditure for a day, you can then add calories to build muscle, or take calories away to diet.

 

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)

 

Basal metabolic rate determines the calories you use on a daily basis. The human body uses calories 24 hours a day, even when sleeping, our BMR calculator provides an accurate calculation to determine your daily caloric expenditure given a variety of different activity levels. The benefit of this is that you can determine how many calories you need to achieve your goals, given your unique activity levels.

 

Step 1

 

Men: 1 x bodyweight (kg) x 24

Women: 0.9 x bodyweight (kg) x 24

 

Step: 2

 

Multiply the figure from step 1 by the figure corresponding to your body fat percentage

 

Body Fat %	Multiplier Figure
Men 10%-15% Women 15%-19%	1
Men 15%-21% Women 19%-29%	0.95
Men 21%-28% Women 29%-38%	0.90
Men over 28% Women over 38%	0.85

Step 3

Calculate daily activity calorie expenditure

 

Multiply your result by the daily calorie expenditure that best suits you.

 

Light: 1.3 (No exercise, some walking, working at a desk)

Low Medium: 1.55 (No exercise, more walking and more activity during the day)

High Medium: 1.65 (Weight training 1-2 hours, no activity other than that)

Heavy: 1.8 (Sports training, athletics, gymnastics 2-3 hours)

The figure you get is your maintenence calorie intake for the day, i.e. the calories you should consume to stay at your bodyweight. If you would like to know how to bulk up or lose fat, visit our nutrition tips page.

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Body Mass Index (BMI)*

Body Mass Index provides a rough estimate of how much you should weigh using your height as a determining factor. BMI however should not be taken too literally as weight training individuals with a lot of muscle mass may weigh a lot, but this may be due to muscle mass and not fat.

BMI = Weight (kg) / Height (m)squared

Underweight: 15-18.5

Normal: 18.5-25

Overweight: 25-30

*Note that BMI is a general figure used for normal adults, weight lifters and athletes may weigh more, but not necessarily be over-fat or unhealthy.