to think 2000 calories a day is too high

[kepler10b]

for a lot of women.

i've never been overweight but after several years of happy marriage, too many hours at the desk and nights on the sofa i have put on a few too many pounds for my liking.

so i decided to get down the gym and also take a look at my diet.

i've never counted calories before but decided i'd look at how many i was eating.

definitely below the recommended levels of 2000 a day for a woman. honestly if i ate that much everyday i would be obese.

my typical calorie intake has probably reached more like 1500 and i reckon without doing loads of exercise in order not for my weight to creep up as it has been it needs to be more like 1300.

i am small frame and 5'2" but that isn't that unusual surely?

i just wonder where this 2000 calories a day recommendation came from and how people are supposed to lose weight if they keep to it?

wouldn't it be a better recommendation to look at a calorie calculator to get your recommended intake rather than to say "2000 calories a day for a woman 2500 for a man".

you only need to overeat or undereat by a couple of hundred cals on a regular basis for things to start going awry.

As pps have noted, it depends on activity levels, metabolism, build / muscularity etc..

I'm 5'3, size 12 and easily eat more than 2000 cals every day. Because I'm very active (walk at least an hour each day in addition to running, yoga and aerobics) and am also BFing, it makes no difference whatsoever to my weight.

When I was a teenager I was very inactive and ballooned to around size 18 while eating this amount or less.

2000 is really only used on food packaging as the standard for an adult so that the sandwich can say it is 400 calories (20% of your recommended daily calorie intake). It can't say "25% of the calories for the little woman that watches TV all day but 15% of the calories for a big bloke that cycles to the office"

I have a feeling that MayorQuimby is also a man, so that helps.

mayorquimby are you very tall, young and with an exceedingly active life-style?

I'm 26 and male which helps. I'm fairly short though which doesn't.
Active wise gym 4 times a week football 3/4 times a week depending.

There's a study that has been done to prevent 'middle aged spread' and it van be as little as eating 30 cals more than you should per day from age 25!

I knew a radio presenter who used to eat like a gannet and do 3 or 4 hard hours gym exercise every day.

People I tell the story to say "He is risking his health"

So, hows it going in the Midlands A.T?
"Gabby"

Thanks Chil, that makes sense. They used to do a male/female split though, and split all the percentages too ... or am I dreaming that?

I think they might have done that in the past but packaging is in grave danger of looking like a bus timetable already as it is. For the traffic-light type systems you have to pick a set of RDAs....calories, sugar, fat etc....and run with it.

I'm 5'6, 9.7 st an eat about 1000 cal a day. Apparently I'm undereating, but if I generally consume more than 1200 cal, I'll put on the half stone I worked so hard to lose, even with exercise 3/4 times a week. It all depends on your metabolism and activity level.

@starlightprincess... you are undereating quite badly and you're overexercising as well. You're clearly not meant to be as low as 9st 7lbs on your frame.... Chronic undereating means you're malnourished and that will harm your general health in the long-run. There are much worse things in life than being 10st.

It's all rather depressing really as I think it depends so much on your metabolism. I'm doing WW at the moment and worked out that my average day's intake is 1053 calories.....and I've managed to put ON weight this week.

So I'm dropping myself right down to 15 points which should be about 600 calories a day for a week to see what happens as clearly anything above that is being seen as excess fat. Very frustrating.
So yes, the idea of 2000 calories a day seems actually gluttonous!!

I am very active (no car, walk everyone, also run and swim every day) and I say I eat way more than 2000 calories.

"So I'm dropping myself right down to 15 points which should be about 600 calories a day for a week to see what happens"

You'll feel quite ill by the end of the week if you make it far. More likely you'll binge out of sheer hunger. It's very common on the WW scheme for people to undereat and then hit what's known as 'starvation mode' .... the metabolism slows right down so you burn less fat and you don't lose weight. Very common. Have a day this weekend where you get a good 2000 calories and then go back on your points allowance making sure you have plenty of 'no point' foods like vegetables to give your system something to work on.

@ Chil1234- I know, believe me I know. I also have an eating disorder. Food is generally the bane of my life to be honest. I love it, but hate it.

Starlightprincess

you are risking your health for half a stone

I'm allowed to eat 1700 without putting on weight.

To lose weight I need to eat 1300. To maintain it's 1800.

Dd asked me why I was overweight. I told her that I'd eaten the equivalent of an extra slice of toast every day for ten years.

That's true, I actually like to eat about 1800-1900 calories a day. When I retrospectively count calories that's what I've eaten.

That's why it's so hard to lose weight, I like to not think about it, eat what I like and enjoy my 1800 calories.

But if I want to be thinner then I have to think about it, record it, plan it. All fecking boring.

I haven't put on weight in 3 years, this is my natural weight. Just a shame my natural weight is a chubby 18.

:(

Cat64

Yes, age affects it. www.weightlossresources.co.uk is a vg calorie counting site with 24 hours free trial. Take a look. It tailors it to your sex, age, weight and activity level.

@EricNorthmansMistress- I know what I'm doing isn't healthy, but it's like a voice in my head tells me that if you eat xxxx you'll put on a stone. I know I need to get help but I just can't face admitting to my GP that I need it. I don;t want them to look at me like I'm crazy.

No idea how many calories a day I eat though i do try not to eat too many.

Yesterday I had:

1 small banana
3 apples
1 yoghurt (in know this has 100 cals in )
1 small tin of soup (again 100 cals)
4 cups de caff tea
3 cups fruit tea
1 sausage
Lots for veg (asparagus, broc, peas & carrots)

whats that ?? about 1,500 ish?

I'm 5'6", a size 10, and have an extremely active job. According to the calculator, I need to eat 2411 calories to maintain my current weight

the metabolism thing is generally bullshit. more likely is the fact that folk do not accurately record how many calories they eat.

i require 2357 apparently or 1357 to lose

i am 5' 8"