To think 2000 calories a day really isn't very much

[Drqedwa]

I was sat in a restaurant today and noticed almost all the dishes were around 500-800 calories for the salad and low calorie options. The normal dishes (pasta, grilled dishes) were around 1000 calories. This wasn't a greasy take away but a Greek restaurant which uses only fresh ingredients.

I eat healthily but I eat more than 2000 calories a day. I maintain a healthy weight which may be due to the fact I'm fairly active and the calories I eat are from healthy food.

I can easily see how do many people are overweight as it's very easy to go over the 2000 calories mark.

A bowl of porridge with fruit, rice salad, protein bar and banana and for dinner lamb roast dinner and I'm already over the 2000 mark. That's not factoring in the lattes I had or the flapjack after dinner!

I would be so hungry if I reduced how much I eat. How do people manage to routinely eat less than 2000 calories? For me to achieve that I would have to record everything I eat.

Obviously I'm a healthy weight so I'm doing just fine. But AIBU to think 2000 calories a day really isn't much and we've lost sight of what a normal days worth of food looks like?

Calorie counting for the whole family would drive me nuts, why make life more complicated than it already is. My kids eat cooked meals at school, in chases her own food so no way I could monitor what they eat even if I wanted too, none of us are overweight as we are active and eat a balanced diet. Not sure how people find the time to count calories for everyone, cook from scratch, arrange activities and log everything they eat. It’s sounds like your whole life is taken up by food and diets.

Everyone's focusing on what Springtrolls eat - which is interesting, don't get me wrong - but there have been people posting on the thread saying that they eat 3500 calories a day and are still hungry. Nobody's queried them on how and why this happens.

Not really Love. We both work full time. DSs are 17 and 16 so organise most stuff themselves. They take packed lunches and I can work out most of that in my head. DS2 is overweight. He had the exact same diet as DS1. They are within an inch of each other heightwise but DS2 is more active and still has 2 periods of pe on top.

This week, he was having about 800 calories less a day than DS1. Ds1 lost a pound and he only lost a half pound. He isn't cheating he just metabolises his food differently.

It does take time to log and weigh everything but clearly what we were doing wasn't working for him or me. He wants to lose weight. I'm happy to help and support him in that.

Glad that the way you do it works for you but we need to do things differently for now. The health and well being of my child is more important than the other things I could be doing with my time.

It's also a targeted thing at the moment focusing on the start of our holidays to be at a target weight. After that I think we will have a regular weigh in just to keep our eye on the ball but not log everything etc.

We just want ds2 to feel comfortable taking his top off on holiday.

I've been overweight for most of my life and am still overweight by about 13lbs but nearly 7 stone lighter than end of 2016.

This is the first time i've used calorie counting to control my weight, did SW and ww before. I know people don't find their Fitbits accurate but mine seems to be (heart rate monitor ) though took a few weeks to get there.

Balancing my energy requirements is how I think of it which appeals to my mindset, I approach it the same way I do my finances which seems to tap into the way my mind works.

I am in theory eating at maintaince but finding I am still losing a pound or two a month. I'm 48 and my hormones are all over the place which is a pain .

I eat 2000 plus calories on average but it generally works more at the weekend and a couple of lighter days in the week. DH needs less than me as is sedentary. I found if I cut my intake too much then I didn't have enough energy to exercise so am taking this last bit slowly and focusing on learning how to keep my weight stable.

If I look at the TDEE calculator I fit the heavy exercise category calorie wise which doesn't seem right but running with it.

springrolls you’ve been extremely tolerant regarding everyone’s questions. It’s good that you’ve got a health check soon and it may well be that actually you are fine. Remember we are just a load of strangers on the internet and don’t get to diagnose you.
Thank you for being so patient with all the questions I don’t think I could have been so measured.

there have been people posting on the thread saying that they eat 3500 calories a day and are still hungry. Nobody's queried them on how and why this happens.

I don't need to query how one could eat 3500. It's not an incredible physical feat like being shot out of a cannon and surviving. More importantly, on the tree diagram of what could be happening, the scenarios aren't arcane knowledge. How many MNers are there who can't name three adverse health consequences of eating too much? They're probably not eating as much as they think, and if they are, comments on it on the internet are pointless.

However, popular knowledge of what happens at the other extreme is far more lacking, which is why people, especially those with experience of eating disorders, pick up more on anything that could be a red flag, or could trigger someone else's eating disorder.

Sometimes the replies may be an over-reaction. But sometimes they're not, and some of those times the OP listens.

Well perhaps springrolls is eating more than they think, and if they aren't theyn comments on it on the internet are equally pointless. Think it is time some of you moved on from interrogating her.

Whenever I have tried to diet using Calorie counting, aiming for about 1500 per day I have found it incredibly difficult to stay below 2000. I weighed everything carefully. I'm really surprised at the number of people saying 2000 is loads, that wasn't my experience.

It's not equal, Paris. By the way, I originally started off on the assumption that Spring was eating more than she thought, but she has since clarified that I was definitely, absolutely wrong about that.

The cultural issues around weight do not treat overeating/undereating with the same significance. As I said, we all can name what happens as a consequence of the former. Being overweight is highly visible, and comments on the internet are pointless when most adult women have strong feelings- and a waspish internal critic to voice them! -on the desirability of thinness.

However, nascent osteoporosis, for example, is not visible, it is not a thing that women worry about as much as they do being fat, and it is not fixable. Then there's heart damage from long-term eating under calories. Again, it is not visible, it is not a thing that women worry about as much as they do being fat, and it is not fixable.

Just think you're hectoring to be honest, think she'll have got your message by now. Agree there's not enough information out there about essential vitamins and minerals and think a lot of women would benefit from upping vitamin d and ferritin levels at the very least, but I think that should be a wider discussion than what one anonymous woman supposedly eats.

2000 can be loads or not loads depending on what you are eating Vango

I'm finding that most of the time 1200 is fine but doesn't really allow for the extras I might like. i.e. I can still have a chicken curry with rice but it's need to be a more tomato based sauce rather than a creamy one and I can't have naan bread with it. I can have a decent bowl of spag bol with the sauce filled out with grated carrot but I can't really afford to have a slice of garlic bread with it without sacrificing elsewhere. I can have a decent plate of roast ham and potato wedges with veg but in the past I might have made cauliflower and broccoli mornay with it rather than plain veg.

I still have a bowl of porridge most mornings, I can have a toasted thin bagel with egg or bacon medallions if I want instead - all for around 200 calories, add in some no added sugar fruit juice sometimes.

Lunch is usually soup and a roll or baked potato with salad etc.

adding flavour to food usually costs very few calories for a bit of spice or a marinade to stop it getting too boring.

That said, I don't really snack during the day, I don't eat crisps but I am a fiend for chocolate. I mostly have 150-200 calories left after dinner which I will splurge on something sweet, sometimes it's a fruit shake with a little frozen yoghurt or some crackerbreads with a tiny bit of chocolate spread or jam, sometimes it's a cornetto :o. Sometimes if I really want something and I have no allowance left, I'll go out for a brisk walk to earn some, sometimes by the time I've done the walk I don't fancy it anymore which is always a bonus.

Some days I just go over because I want to enjoy something in particular - we had steaks yesterday - way over my limit but hey ho, sometimes you need to have a treat. You do it and then move on and don't beat yourself up or just think "stuff it the diet is over".

It’s all about how much fat

Quick ready reckoner :
1g protein = 4 cals
1g carbs/sugar = 4 cals
1g fat = 9 cals

2000 a day is loads tbh, more than adequate and many women especially older or very short need more like 1800 max

it's shit because a couple of glasses of wine can take you waaay over so easily. I don't drink anymore for that reason, loved my red wine but I'd rather eat more

I struggle to imagine how you can eat 2000 every day without being huge. I eat about 1200. I’m not overweight but definitely not skinny.

I know very few women who can eat 2,000 cals a day and not gain weight. If you’re cooking/preparing meals yourself it’s really not hard to eat much less than this and still have three decent meals and a snack or two. Going out to eat makes it much harder.

I was shocked when I was in BurgerKing once and looked at the calorie counts (big mistake) - a Whopper Meal (so not even their biggest burger) and a side of onion rings, not including the drink, came to over 1000 calories. Now that wouldn't have lasted me the whole day.

I know very few women who can eat 2,000 cals a day and not gain weight.

Is this the type of thing that people generally discuss? . How the hell do you know a) what other people eat and b) that they are telling the truth. MN is a parallel universe it really is

Calories are measured by actually burning food, this is not exactly how your body digests it. Eat sugar or fat, you get all the calories. Eat fibrous veg or fruit, you don't. Not all protein calories are absorbed either. Chicken and baked sweet potato, yum!! Easy to stay slim on 2000 calories if half of it is veg and root veg are your best friend imho especially if your a carb fiend.

You say you eat healthily and then cite lasange, cottage pie,burriots, fish and chips etc. as your normal foods - none particularly healthy! You’re obviously lucky you can eat this amount of calories, but they’re not particularly healthy options

Op, I eat like you. I think I eat about 2000 cals a day. I eat dessert everyday.
I need to lose 6-7 kgs. To achieve that I need to reduce my calorie consumption to 1200. Seems impossible.
Op you must be quite tall to maintain normal weight on this diet or must be doing rigorous workout regularly.

Depends what you’re eating. Some foods are high calorie and low satiety, others are high calorie and high satiety, others are low calorie and fairly satiating (is that a real word?)

I eat LCHF/Keto and I’m currently tracking macros (which is tedious and I only do it now and then when I’ve slipped off plan and need to get myself back on track) and my calorie goal is 1600 a day and I’m regularly under that. Last night I was so far under my calories and fats I stood in the kitchen eating cheese. 2000 is only a low calorie goal if you’re eating lots of starchy carbs like bread, potatoes, rice & pasta.

2000 calories = a shit load of lettuce but if you have a doughnut, large latte, BLT for lunch and a chicken korma for dinner with a naan bread and a few glasses of wine, it's very easy to go way over

I haven't read the thread but ignore calories in food, I just eat according to my appetite.

I burn average 2400 cals a day according to Fitbit.

I'm fairly active and 9 st 2 at 5'9.

@beamur that explains things! I've always wondered what fat people must eat if I eat so badly and am size 10-12.
I do struggle to limit to 2000 calories some days. Cereal tends to be involved in lower calorie days because it offers a satisfying crunch without too many calories (yes I weigh it and eat a lot more than the 30g recommended serving). It's also low in fat!