How many calories should a normal diet be for a 69 year old man?
78What is Your Activity Level? {Information from MSN Health and Fitness}
Very Light Activity
Seated and standing activities, painting, driving, laboratory work, typing, sewing, ironing, cooking, playing cards, playing a musical instrument
Light Activity
Walking on a level surface at two-and-a-half to three mph, garage work, electrical trades, carpentry, restaurant trades, housecleaning, child care, golfing, sailing, table tennis
Moderate
Walking three-and-a-half to four mph, weeding and hoeing, carrying a load, cycling, skiing, tennis, dancing
Heavy
Carrying a load uphill, felling a tree, heavy manual digging, basketball, climbing, football, soccer
Answer
Depending not only on his age but also on his sex, the ratio between his weight and height or BMI {Body Mass Index} – which determines your body fat percentage, waist size, his activity level, and nutritional needs.
To determine whether a person is getting a dose of a normal healthy diet or not, here is an example for a 69 year old man with a weight of 115 lbs, a height of 5’4, waist size of 31 in. and an activity level of “very light”:
First, thing to do is to determine the person’s BMI. To calculate on your own, divide your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters, or just easily use this online BMI Calculator by MSN Health and Fitness {this calculator also considers your sex and waist size}. The result from this online calculator is 18.5-24.9 BMI and stated NORMAL. If your figures are different and result in NOT NORMAL – or Underweight or Overweight or Obese, you would have to adjust your food intake and do more {or less} physical activities. Since in our example the person’s weight is NORMAL, hence he could just stick with normal food intake and activity level.
Next, we can now determine the amount of calories his body needs daily. We can do this by using a Metabolic Calculator – which calculates the amount of calories your body needs as determined by your weight, sex, age, and activity level. The result of our example from MSN’s calculator is 1432 calories daily expenditure for someone with “Very Light” activity. The man’s body then only needs 1432 calories from foods daily. Using the Caloric Needs Calculator by FitnessMagazine.com, a man with a height of 5’4 weighs 115 lbs. with Light activity level needs 1546 calories per day, and this should be the breakdown of the food calories he is eating: 928 calories from Carbohydrates, 155 calories from Proteins, and 464 from Fats. He can ask his dietician for a chart of foods and their calorie contents to track his food intake.
If he’s having some trouble balancing his calorie needs and actual calorie intake, he can either undergo a diet or increase {or reduce} the amount of his activities. He can use this calculator – the Calories Burned Calculator, by FitnessMagazine.com – which lets you find out how many calories you’re burning for your particular activities. You can just choose your activity from the dropdown menu, then enter the duration of your activity, and weight. Now “Walking Slow” for 30 minutes, our 115 lb man burns 52 calories daily, if he is “Washing the Car” for thirty minutes, he burns 79 calories. He can use this Weight Loss Calculator – to find out how long will it take his healthy weight loss goal, and how many calories he should consume daily.
Lastly, an important part of determining the normal healthy diet for our 69 year old man is his nutritional needs. The vitamins and nutrients he needs may vary depending on his age. He may need to consult a nutritionist for a customized help or advice because of his body’s unique needs. Follow these links: Healthy Food Pyramid and Essential Nutrients and their Sources in Food.
Notes:
Potassium reduces the body’s sodium {salt} absorption so as to control hypertension – very important for those with high blood pressure.
Lycopene has been considered to help prevent of some types of cancers, like prostate cancer.
