EER Calculator: Essential Tool for Energy Management

EER calculator is one of the easiest tools for estimating your daily energy requirements.

Knowing how much energy you must have during the day is crucial because that dictates how many calories you need to ingest. 

This becomes far more important when we want to gain or lose weight since the daily energy requirements will help us understand the threshold on which we can overcome or consume less to achieve different goals.

In addition, having a well-balanced diet with sufficient energy on a daily basis is crucial for developing good habits and staying healthy for longer periods. 

Keep reading below to learn everything about the estimated energy requirement calculator, how to use it, the formulas used, and more.

Quick Summary

• EER calculator is an online tool used for estimating your daily energy requirements.
• The calculator helps you gather information to know how to maintain a proper energy balance and don't experience any negative health effects.
• The values of estimated energy requirements mainly depend on factors such as your sex, weight, age, height, level of physical activity, and similar.
• The Institute of Medicine initially developed the main formula for estimated energy requirements.
• According to USDA Dietary Guidelines, all energy should come from 10-35% of proteins, 45-65% of carbohydrates, and 20-35% of fats.

What Is an EER Calculator?

An EER calculator is a piece of online software that uses different formulas to estimate your daily energy requirements. This information becomes useful for developing healthy diet habits and having the necessary information for maintaining, gaining, or losing weight.

However, it's essential to be aware of common weight loss mistakes people tend to make when relying solely on such tools.

The estimated energy requirement calculator basically estimates the average dietary energy intake you need to maintain sufficient amounts of energy on a daily basis and is mostly based on average and normal-weight individuals.

This tool has a very similar concept to the TDEE or total daily energy expenditure calculator. The previously mentioned calculator mainly tells you how many calories you should eat each day to sustain your current body weight. Eating more calories than your TDEE will result in subsequent weight gain, and eating less than your total daily energy expenditure threshold will result in weight loss.

Estimated Energy Requirement

EER, or estimated energy requirement, represents the value of the average intake of energy you need to maintain your current body weight.

All estimated energy requirements highly depend on the following factors:

• sex
• age
• height
• weight
• Physiological state, which can be pregnancy, illness, or lactation.
• Level of physical activity

However, more factors can play a significant role in changing your daily energy requirements.

That said, the previously mentioned ones are essential and will be responsible for most of your daily energy intake requirements.

EER Formula

The estimated energy requirement calculator calculates your daily energy intake requirements using different formulas, which the Institute of Medicine initially developed. Here are the representations of those formulas for both men and women:

• Males - EER = 662 - (9.53 × A) + PA × [(15.91 × W) + (539.6 × H)]
• Females - EER = 354 - (6.91 × A) + PA × [(9.36 × W) + (726 × H)]

EER stands for estimated energy requirement, A stands for age, W stands for weight, H stands for height, and PA stands for physical activity.

Take a look at the following values to get a better picture of your estimated energy requirement value:

• Sedentary - Males: 1.0, Females: 1.0
• Low active - Males: 1.11, Females: 1.12
• Active - Males: 1.25, Females: 1.27
• Very active - Males: 1.48, Females: 1.45

All of the above values represent the average population values, which you should consider before concluding your total daily energy requirements.

How to Calculate EER?

To calculate EER, you must consider multiple body composition and lifestyle factors. Some of those factors include your age, sex, weight, height, level of physical activity, and physiological state.

Let's take a look at an example to figure out how to calculate your estimated energy requirement.

Daniel is a 40-year-old male who seeks to maintain his current body weight as it is. 

He weighs a total of 70 kilograms and is 172 cm tall.

In addition, he believes that he belongs to the low active group of people regarding his physical activity level, and he works in the office, likes to walk, and visits the gym every now and then.

Here is how we are going to calculate John's estimated energy requirement:

• EER = 662 - (9.53 × A) + PA * [(15.91 × W) + (539.6 × H)]

Now, it is time to input the values above and solve the equation:

• EER (kcal/day) = 662 - (9.53 × 40) + PA * [(15.91 × 70) + (539.6 × 1.72)]
• EER (kcal/day) = 662 - 381.2 + PA × [1113.7 × 928.1]

Now, you may wonder when we are going to use the metric associated with our level of physical activity, which in John's case was deemed as low.

If we take a closer look at the information we put forward in the subsection before, we can clearly see that the value of low activity for a male is 1.11.

Let's put that new value into the formulas below to get the end results:

• EER (kcal/day) = 280.8 + 1.11 × 2041.8
• EER (kcal/day) = 2547

In the previous examples where we calculated John's EER, we concluded that John needs to consume at least 2547 calories per day to maintain his current body weight. However, all these formulas are unnecessary if you simply plug the information into the calculator.

EER Nutrition

Now that you finally calculated how many calories you must consume daily to maintain your current body weight, it's time to sort out the macronutrients.

One of the most important things in a well-designed diet is the distribution of calories. 

The distribution of calories over proteins, fats, and carbohydrates is essential for achieving your desired results.

According to the USDA Dietary Guidelines, a healthy diet should consist of the following distribution of previously mentioned macronutrients:

• Protein sources - 10-35% of energy
• Carb sources - 45-65% of energy
• Fat sources - 20-35% of energy

Following these recommendations, you get the best chance to maintain your current body weight and stay healthy.

In addition, this ratio of macronutrients is one of the best for preventing diabetes and different cardiovascular diseases.

How Much Energy Does Your Body Need?

How much energy your body needs will highly depend on your age, height, weight, and level of physical activity. The best and easiest way to calculate how much energy your body needs is to use the estimated energy requirement calculator. 

Alongside the EER calculator, another useful tool is the weight loss percentage calculator, which can help gauge the percentage of weight you've lost over a specific period.

EER calculator is the best piece of online software that will help you understand how much energy in kCal you need per day. If you're exploring ways to get you in shape fast, understanding your energy needs is crucial.

The amount that is calculated should be consumed on a daily basis if your goal is to preserve your current body weight.

However, it might be better or more efficient if you calculate two separate EER values. 

The first value should be for the days where you have some physical work or exercise routine and the other day is without any significant activities during the day.

 In addition, even if you manage to keep strict counts, it is still advised to keep track of your body mass on a regular basis and adjust if necessary. 

It is important to mention that  TDEE or total daily energy requirements increase with age to about 20-25 years of age.

However, after that, they start to decline slightly. Also, males of all ages require at least 10 to 20% more calories on a daily basis than females.

This is also reflected in the EEr equation used in the tool. 

The last thing to mention is that you should always consult with your nutritionist or physician before undertaking any significant changes to your exercise and nutritional routine since many serious side effects may result from poor diet choices.

What Are the Different Measurements of Energy Needs?

The different measurements of energy needs are basal metabolic rate, basal energy expenditure, resting metabolic rate, total energy expenditure, and EER calculator.

We will cover each of these except the EER calculator below.

BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate

Basal metabolic rate or BMR represents the value and situation where physical activity and food have minimal influence over metabolism.

In addition, the basal metabolic rate also reflects the energy that is required to sustain the metabolic activities of tissues and cells.

However, it is also tied to the energy required for maintaining blood pressure, respiration, gastrointestinal and renal processing, which are operating as the basal cost of living.

BEE or Basal Energy Expenditure

Basal Energy Expenditure represents the measurement that is calculated by extrapolating basal metabolic rate to 24 hours expressed as kcal/24 h. 

RMR or Resting Metabolic Rate

The resting metabolic rate is the same as energy expenditure under resting conditions, such as lying in bed.

However, it tends to be slightly higher, about 10-20%, than under basal conditions because of the increase in energy expenditure that is caused by recent food intake.

This is also known as the thermic effect of food. In addition, it can also be caused by recently completed or delayed physical activity.

TEE or Total Energy Expenditure

Total energy expenditure is the value that represents the sum of basal energy expenditure and all energy required daily for the rest of the activities, such as walking, running, doing work, making lunch, washing hands, jumping, and similar.

It is the total energy your body needs to sustain all your physical activities during the day.

Why Your Physical Activity Levels Does Matter?

Your physical activity levels do matter because it is associated with numerous cardiovascular benefits and a longer lifespan.

Generally, more active people tend to have longer lives, fewer diseases, lower risk of acquiring serious diseases and injuries, less depression and anxiety, and more.

Physical activity is essential for living a healthy and long life since it will support your cardiorespiratory system, increase bone density, make your joints more mobile, and increase muscle mass which will better support your bone structure.

In addition, indulging in regular physical activity is proven to reduce cortisol, the hormone of stress, anxiety, and depression.

FAQs

Why Is the EER Calculator So Important?

The EER calculator is so important because it helps you estimate how much energy you need daily to sustain your body weight.

In addition, it can help you with designing your diet plan with a proper macronutrient ratio.

Lastly, before making any changes to your diet based on EER, consult your dietician or doctor to avoid any negative side effects.