Very cool calculator for calculating your specific dietary needs – Protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, etc.

by Marshall Brain

Have you ever wondered EXACTLY how much of each nutrient you are supposed to eat each day based on things like your sex, weight and age? Here is a very cool calculator that lets you discover your daily dietary needs for things like Protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, etc. It is individualized to your weight, height, sex and age:

Interactive DRI for Healthcare Professionals

Use this tool to calculate daily nutrient recommendations for dietary planning based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). These represent the most current scientific knowledge on nutrient needs, developed by the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine.

Fill in the five pieces of information at the top of the calculator, then check all of the check boxes to get a full report and see what you need according to “the most current scientific knowledge”.

The report you get back is extensive. It even lists water. The most interesting number in my report is the “Estimated Daily Caloric Needs” (I used an activity level of “low active”). It is 2,867 calories per day. If I select “sedentary” I get 2,602 calories per day. In the course of doing the Dukan diet I have been trying to eat less than 2,000 calories per day, and am averaging about 1,500 per day. So now I know that I am running a 1,000+ calorie deficit every single day, and this is what is allowing me to burn off 2 pounds a week or so (you have to burn about 3,500 calories to lose a pound of body weight).

The second most interesting number is the recommended intake per day for carbohydrates: 322 to 466 grams. On the Dukan diet I am getting about a tenth of that per day and feeling fine. As explained in these articles…

…it is possible that scientific research is about to set the number much lower. The problem with setting it lower is that it can get expensive.

Anyway, if you have been wondering how much you should be eating per day in terms of protein, carbs, fat, fiber, salt, vitamins, water, etc., it is a very informative tool.

Dukan Table of Contents

The Official Site for Marshall Brain