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?

Er...no a calorie is not a calorie. a calorie of protein acts differnetly to a calorie of carbs or fat. they will also act differently depending on your personal physiology, time of day, what you ate recently, hormones genetics etc etc.

We also know that when you eat is very important (which is why fasting works) the same calories eaten at certain times can result in more weight loss then if you eat them at different times.

Calories are at best a massive over simplification of the energy model of food.

I don’t really calorie count, I work out every day, I eat 3 meals a day but since the whole ‘400cal for breakfast, 600cal lunch and 600cal dinner’ thing I have been looking at my calorie intake, I rarely eat over 500cal for a meal and I think 400cal for breakfast seems loads (I have a small amount of poridge or weetabix). My downfall is snacking which I am trying to cut out. I probably eat around 1500cal a day.

A lot of diets don’t count calories, such as slimming world, people lose weight in these plans just by eating better food rather than cutting calories.

2000 is a lot. What you've described as 'normal' meals are very stodgy and filling meals, not the healthiest either. You can get much more nutrition and be just as full from lower calorie food.

I thought calories were an unreliable way to measure food intake?

And not all calories are the same. Some fats are good for you, Some bad

It's very important how you get those calories, healthy sources are important

Slimming world is still a calorie reduction diet though even though you don’t count as such. It’s low fat and low sugar which will mean that most people are taking in less calories then they would usually.

I get quinoa salad when I go to Wetherspoons and it's under 400 calories (and yummy). I don't usually eat more than 1500 calories unless I'm snacking a lot, couldn't possibly eat 2000 calories a day.

Ooh babyblue that's interesting

I have to calorie count to make sure I eat enough, for 2000 easy calories is either an awful lot of food or just incredibly unhealthy food.

I agree OP, I don’t find 2000 much at all! Once you realise how many cals are in a spoonful of cooking oil or butter it’s obvious how easily they add up. I could easily eat 2500 a day I think or even more.

I find these threads attract people who love to share about how they could never possibly be so greedy as to eat 2000 even if they tried and how hard it is to eat even 1500. I honestly wish I felt that way but when I’ve calorie counted, I’ve really struggled to feel satisfied eating 1500 or so. I guess I’m just a greedy guts!

I struggle with 1200 calories. Today I have had just over 860 calories and I cannot eat anymore. This was a good day and I've eaten 3 meals.

Actually, saturated fat does not 'make you fat' any more than eating bread turns you into a breadstick. It has been debunked as myth by doctors. It's all nonsense - if you eat the same calories as you expend you will maintain your weight. A 1000 calorie deficit between what you put in and what you burn will give a 2 lb a week loss. If you eat more than you expend you will gain. Simple. What you choose to use those calories on makes no difference to weightloss.

These type of threads always attract a certain type of poster. Everything that’s been said is true but the average person in the street eats these stodgy ‘normal’ meals they are not thinking about the fat/protein/carb balance. It’s all very well saying ‘well I don’t eat like that’s so it’s easy to stay under 2000’ but it’s not how most people live. Food manufacturers and supermarkets need to stop shoving out crap non foods full of fat and sugar to cover up shit ingredients and be more responsible about what they produce and sell . Not everyone knows how to put together a healthy meal.

2000 calories.... even on 'healthy' food is not a lot espe rally if you are active.... if not active it's plenty....
I eat substantially more than that and eat relative little rubbish.. .. but would be moderately active....

I'm on 1200 and it's fine, it just means that you need to be careful about portion size if you want to eat higher calorie foods or you can have bigger portions of less calorific foods.

Because I am cooking healthy dinners of around 500 calories, then I am having to give bigger portions or add in extras for the tall active teenage boy and DH who has an active job as I don't want to make "special" food for my diet. They should be on about 2300 calories a day to maintain weight. so effectively I need to add in 1000 extra calories into their meals over the day, I actually find it quite hard sometimes. DS is eating a fair bit of peanut butter, bananas, crackers and milk.

I have got down to a size 10 from a 14 without calorie counting, just by making better choices, I eat loads and could easily eat 2000 cal a day.

It’s about what you eat as well as how much. If your just counting calories you could just eat 15 kit kats a day and be within you calorie intake but would eating 15 kit kats a day be good for you? Would you lose weight?

Just eat less, eat good foods and exercise more.

2000 isn't very much, I grant you, but the weightloss industry is something that really blows my mind when I think about it. A multi-billion pound industry built on exploiting common-sense, or lack thereof. My mind truly boggles.

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
Does the calorie source actually make a difference though?

But restaurant food are REALLY buttery/sugary to give that taste, which adds the calories.

A normal home-cooked portion of lasagne/pie/pasta would be 500-600 cals. Restaurants are off the scale.

If I ate 2000 cals a day for a week, I would gain so much! I am reasonably active as well.

I am constantly trying to lose weight. I try to keep around the 1500 mark. and that maintains my weight. I have to drop to 1200 to lose a few pounds a week. I find it hard to sustain hence constantly on a diet.

I don't drink, I don't eat takeaways, I don't eat fried foods and I don't drink sugary drinks. I walk a mile a day at the very least, often more as I don't drive. I am permanently two stone overweight. It sucks.

Oh and I could totally eat 2000 cals a day!

I find 2000 calories a huge amount and frequently miss my target (consciously calorie count a fair bit of the time as am trying to put on some weight). And no, it’s not a stealth boast. If I ate 3 meals in a restaurant every day or a roast every day, sure. In real life not so much.

Obviously depends on what you eat, OP. I think 2000 calories is quite a lot of food. On days when I feel like I've pigged out if I tot it up it usually does come to about 2000 calories.
It also depends on whether you 'waste' calories, on things like drinks, frying stuff when it could be cooked without fat, having more than recommended portion sizes on things like pasta, eating things in mayonnaise, etc.
If I was eating in a restaurant though, I would be happy with a meal of 500 - 800 cals, with a glass of wine.That would still leave 1000 calories (or more), enough for 2 more reasonable sized meals.

Yes restaurant food is high in calories, it’s ok to eat it as a treat as long as your not eating there several times a week?

does a calories sourceactually make a difference though yes of course it does, eating 1500 cal of chocolate a day isn’t going to beniffits you in the way eating 1500 of fruit and veg is it?

normal people don't sit down to quinoa and grilled cod every day

We do. Not grilled cod necessarily but definitely along those lines. We do have a roast dinner once a week too though. And the odd packet of crisps or some icecream.

It's all about habit isn't it? And budget.

2000 is for an average sized woman with an active lifestyle, that’s what the guidelines were for. Someone who is bed bound will need less, someone training for a marathon will need more.