It is known that the standard method for calculating finite-size corrections in Bethe ansatz solvable systems is not applicable to the Takhtajan-Babujian model and its anisotropic XXZ generalisation. The authors develop a new analytic method explicitly avoiding root densities and associated problems. Nonlinear integral equations are derived whose solutions yield the correct central charges c=1 and c=3/2 for the spin-1/2 and spin-1 XXZ chains, respectively. In the spin-1 case the authors obtain as a by-product the finite-size deviation of the Bethe ansatz roots from the 2-string formation.