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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think a standard woman does not need 2000 calories a day?

182 replies

CardinalRichelieu · 26/02/2013 14:56

I know it says on packaging etc that 2000 is the standard intake for a woman but it sounds like kind of a lot. I reckon I eat maybe 1600-1700 per day? I am quite small (5 ft 3) and don't do much exercise except walking around and a bit of pilates. I work partly from home and partly out of the home and don't really burn that much off in daily activity. I am in the healthy BMI range (19).

I don't think someone like me needs 2000 calories a day - am I right?

OP posts:
Msbluesky32 · 27/02/2013 12:21

Im 5ft 7 and have weighed around 9.5 stone for years, give or take 4 lbs or so. It's just guidelines based on the 'average' sized woman but at the end of the day it's just guidelines. I don't count count calories and I don't even own scales - if I start to feel a bit unfit or clothes start to feel tight (usually after Christmas) I just reduce the amount of cr@p I eat. Surely it depends on so many variables - height, build, metabolism, how much exercise you do...everyone is so different.

ChairmanWow · 27/02/2013 12:25

Have a slice of cake for crying out loud.

^ This! Bloody hell, women blethering on about what size we are and how many cals we eat. Go read Fat is a Feminist Issue and chill out ffs.

happybubblebrain · 27/02/2013 12:31

I'd rather eat a bit more and be a little bit fat.

I'm a size 12 and eat about 2500 calories a day at a guess, although I think life is much better when you don't count calories.
I'm happier like this, I think being happy and not hungry is more important than what size I am.

I have no interest in what the guidelines are.

SchroSawMargeryDaw · 27/02/2013 12:33

How on earth is 'fat a feminist issue'? Confused

I don't feel comfortable the way I am as I hate the way my clothes feel, I also don't feel healthy.

Feelingood · 27/02/2013 12:33

Well you must substandard then

Feelingood · 27/02/2013 12:33

Op that is

BinksToEnlightenment · 27/02/2013 13:29

I think what is a feminist issue is being angry at other women for their weight.

midastouch · 27/02/2013 13:36

Im 5 ft 5 (that must be about average size mustnt it?) and i definetly do not need that many! somewhere aroung 1800 id have thought

lljkk · 27/02/2013 13:48

Why being fat is Still a feminist issue.

RedToothBrush · 27/02/2013 13:51

Again we have yet another person who thinks its ok to be abusive about people who are thin.

I'm not sure I see it as a feminist issue as such, along it does have feminist elements. Personally I think its an issue of basic respect for others.

Midastouch, between 5'3 and a half to 5'4" is the average height of a woman in the UK depending on which study you look at. I think 5'4" is more commonly used though.

RedToothBrush · 27/02/2013 14:05

lljkk, the trouble I have with that particular article is every word says that if you are thin, you are giving in to social pressures and the underlying feeling throughout the piece is that is somehow unnatural state.

Even the last two paragraphs give me that feeling:
Orbach says she feels as though it is 'the perfect coming together of activists, and pressure on government ministers, and a change in culture. There is a lot of bravado around. There is a cockiness, a spunkiness, a sense of taking pleasure in our bodies. It?s a fury, with women saying, ?No, we are not all the same shape and size.? I think there is a real attempt to remake the culture in which we live. It feels like we are taking part in a dare, one where we say, ?It?s OK, this is who I am.? ?

And it is about time, too, she says. Time that we nourished our bodies, instead of torturing them.

On the one hand it celebrates the idea that we are not all the same shape and size; and on the other hand then puts this idea of torturing instead of nourishing our bodies on the table as an alternative and opposing train of thought. Which is equally unhelpful.

The article is all about hatred of people's own bodies - and yet says very little about how this hatred is being projected in all kinds of different ways - and not just in the direction of bigger women.

So for me, that particular article, misses the point just as much as the people it tries to criticise.

ithaka · 27/02/2013 14:21

It seems significant that the 'average' women is 5'3" and 11stone and is therefore overweight - perhaps by consuming the recommended daily calorie intake of 2000 calories. Which does rather suggest that the recommended calorie intake is too high, which is a bit worrying considering we are apparently facing an obesity epidemic.

I do think as a nation we have lost the way with portion sizes. I remember what my nana & grandad considered a portion of a food and it was teeny.

SchroSawMargeryDaw · 27/02/2013 15:22

Still not convinced.

Being overweight is unhealthy and lots of people don't feel comfortable with the way they look or feel, just the same as being underweight. Not to please men or society, simply because they in themselves do not like it.

I hate how everything is jumped on as a feminist issue when most of the time it is a case of women not feeling comfortable the way they are and wanting to make a change for themselves. I think it's totally counter productive to tell a woman (or anyone for that matter) that they are doing something for a particular reason and not the reasons that they give and that they shouldn't do it even if that is their own choice.

Shaved fanjo anyone?

malinois · 27/02/2013 15:46

ithaka actually, the average calorie intake has decreased since the 1950s. Unfortunately the amount of physical work people do has decreased even more: they drive where they might have cycled or walked, they work sitting in an office rather than standing in a factory, they shop (by car) once a week rather than every day on foot, and washing machines and vacuum cleaners have taken a lot of the manual labour out of the home.

cumfy · 27/02/2013 16:11

I'll just go with those and ignore the ones containing constructive criticism.

How refreshingly different.Grin

TheSmallPrint · 27/02/2013 16:24

I'm 5'10" and eat well over 2000 calories a day and my BMI is 23. Does that help?

TheSmallPrint · 27/02/2013 16:25

and I never excercise because I'm a lazy mare as well as greedy.

pixi2 · 27/02/2013 16:29

Who cares? I am the same height, I eat chocolate for breakfast, just finishing a slice of cake and a coffee before I start dinner. I am a size 8. No idea how many calories I consume and couldn't give a feck what my bmi is. I run, I walk the dog and I play on the park with dc.

digerd · 27/02/2013 16:33

I read a while ago that it is 1500 for women and 2000 for men .

Fillyjonk75 · 27/02/2013 16:41

While people need a varying number of calories, I do generally agree the 2000/2500 levels are rather high as a general recommendation. 1800/2200 would be better, based on someone being fairly sedentary.

Fillyjonk75 · 27/02/2013 16:45

Being a size 8 isn't the be all and end all. People can be thin but unhealthy and a bit plump but healthier. You can live on chocolate cake and be thin but it won't do much for your blood sugar, cholesterol levels, not to mention your moods and energy levels.

oohlaalaa · 27/02/2013 16:53

I'm 5'11, breastfeeding, and do lots of exercise. I eat far more than 2000 calories. Never worked out the actual calories. I'd ignore the guidelines, we're all different.

anonymosity · 27/02/2013 16:55

What is a "standard" woman? I'd love to know...

lljkk · 27/02/2013 17:21

Well, if adulthood = age 18-88, then standard must be 48yrs old, reasonable?
Which means perimenopausal.
About 5'5" tall.
2.5 stone overweight.
Takes NO regular exercise. And virtually never any aerobic exercise.
25% chance of being a smoker.
Most of us are too young to identify with the standard woman.

This calculator says my standard woman would need 1600 calories/day to maintain her 2.5 stone excess.
I fear OP's case may be proven.

Thingiebob · 27/02/2013 17:27

OP. you don't need 2000 cals because of your lifestyle, but I do. On average I think most 'standard' women do more exercise than you.