To think the government guidelines are way off?

[iammeegan]

With regards to rda of calories on packaging? All packets have a rda of calories as 2000 per women and 2500 for men.
In fact most peoples rda would be nowhere near this. For example mine is 1400 per day and I am an average height and weight.

So if I did follow the guidelines I would be over eating by 600 calories a day!

I know these are only guidelines but surely they shouldn't be this far out?

I think the government should put a scheme in place where we can all find out our recommended daily calorie allowance either through our doctor or free at pharmacy and that it should be encouraged.

Those machines aren’t accurate though are they? I’m not sure it’s possible to know how many calories you need specifically

I also think this is something that needs evaluating regularly. Many people tend to loose loads of weight and then struggle to hit goal as they come to a stand still. Probably because as they loose weight their bodies need less calories.

Again everyone is different, that's the point, I just think guidelines are way off

Without high tech equipment no it's not possible to get a completely accurate figure but like I said before, it's not going to be 600 calories out. So I take that as my guide and adjust it to what exercise I do daily/ weekly

I agree OP, I think the current guidelines are to much for much of today’s population with a sedentary lifestyle. 2000 or 2500 calories is a lot if you drive to work, sit at a desk all day, drive home and then sit in front of the tv.

According to fitbit, I should need just over 1500 with no exercise, but routinely use nearly 3k a day. That said, I have an moderately active job, a very active lifestyle and am above average height.

2k is a very poor estimate if you're very sedentary or of below average height, certainly. However, the guidelines are aimed at the average person, so even if they're well designed and supported by good quality data (which they may not be), they'll still be an under- or over-estimate for most of the population. Nobody should be relying on them as an accurate measure of what they should be eating.