How much food does the human body need?

Answer

It depends on how much energy the human body expends on a daily base and on a few factors such as age, gender, weight, muscle/fat composition, activities etc. To calculate your daily energy requirements: The Harris Benedict formula.

Key: M= weight in kilograms. H= height in centimetres. A= age. AF= activity factor.

how do I know what activity factor im at?? Very light AF (sit and stand still most of the day) is 1.3 for men and women. Light active (house cleaning ,slowly walking ,playing golf most of the day) is 1.6 for men and 11.5 for women. Mild active (walking at faster pase, riding bike, dancing, gym, playing sport such as tennis, riding bike...) is a AF of 1.7 for men and 1.6 for women. Very active (playing tough sports such as rugby, soccer, long duration aerobic excersize daily, working in a mine...) is a AF of 2.1 for men and 1.9 for women. Now take your details and substitute it in the following equasions:

Men: 66.5 + 13.8 (M) + 5 (H) - 6.8(A)

Women: 655 + 9.6 (M) + 1.8 (H) - 4.7 (A)

Now you get an answer from the equasion.
Take this answer, multiply it by 4.2
Then multiply this by your AF

This is the amount of kilojoules you can comsume daily.
To know how many calories this is ,divide your final answer by 4.2

The amount of food your body needs daily ,is the amount of food it takes to sustain this energy requirement of your body.

Check labels of products for kilojoule content or get yourself a kilojoule/calorie counter booklet. (If you really want to).

If you want to lose wight, subtract 3000 kJ (KJ, NOT CALORIES) from your energy requirement. If you want to pick up weight, add 3000 kJ to your energy requirement and focus on lean meats and complex carbohydrates.