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…
- How Carbohydrates Don’t Work – in fact, carbs are probably causing the obesity epidemic. If you are overweight, it is probably the carbs.
- What if everything that we are taught about carbs is actually propaganda?
- Why do we feel like we are entitled to carbs? That we cannot live without them?
…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
- My Dukan Diet Experience (I lost 52 pounds on this diet)
- How much does the Dukan Diet cost per day?
- Very cool calculator for calculating your specific dietary needs – Protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, etc.
- Fasting and Fasting diets – Four different ways to try a fasting diet
- Good question – what is your “ideal weight” if you want to be healthy?
- What can you do when you “get stuck” at some weight plateau on the Dukan diet (or any diet)
- Drew Carey loses 80 pounds with a no-carb diet
- How does your appearance change when you become obese?
- How does your appearance change when you become obese?
- Would you like to lose weight? Video shows the latest science on what works and what doesn’t
- This has got to be the easiest dieting/weight loss tip ever: drink more water
- How to make Greek yogurt at home and cut your yogurt costs in half
- I made half a gallon of Greek yogurt this weekend – talk about cheap and easy! And Tasty!
- All the dire warnings I have gotten about the Dukan diet have turned out to be wrong
- What if everything that we are taught about carbs is actually propaganda?
- How Carbohydrates Don’t Work – in fact, carbs are probably causing the obesity epidemic. If you are overweight, it is probably the carbs
- Why do we feel like we are entitled to carbs? That we cannot live without them?
- Today I officially reached the “50.0 pounds lost” milestone on my Dukan Diet weight loss journey, and you can too