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Daily Calorie Target

Your Daily Calorie Target (DCT) is the number of calories you should eat during an average day. This number may differ from your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). It may be higher or lower, calculated to gain or lose weight.

To calculate your Daily Calorie Target, add 500 times the number of pounds you wish to lose (-) or gain (+) per week (see Target Weekly Loss), to your TDEE. For example, if your TDEE is 2741, and you are trying to lose one pound per week, your DCT will be 2741 – 500, or 2241.

If you are adjusting your DCT downward to lose weight, remember to stay at or above a healthy level. The minimum healthy number of daily calories is 1200 for women and 1500 for men. It is much better to increase your daily activity level than to drop below these calorie levels. If you drop your calories too low, your body will fight you all the way.

Be careful of our natural tendency to binge. As David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M. points out in his book The Way to Eat, “The tendency to eat heartily, and indeed to overeat, when food is readily available, is age-old, seen throughout the animal kingdom, and both normal and rational. … Note that our ancestors did not posses a self-discipline we lack. They simply lacked the food supply we possess.”

This page is a help entry for the Free Simplebean Health Guide. To plan a healthy diet, use this MS Windows software to quickly calculate important health info such as your BMI, BEE, personalized daily calorie requirements and targets in carbs, proteins, and fats, and the target weight for your build. It is great for weight loss or maintenance. Click here for additional Help Topics.

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