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?

You have just lucked out with good genes or are still quite young

Yay all the anorexic are out in force....

@octave777

Would you mind sharing what you eat? I’m so intrigued to see what that looks like!

That was offensive Propolis

Even if you never plan to track calories, please calculate your own TDEE
www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/10/housing-budget-817-million-unspent-astonished-mps
Use sedentary to find out what your body actually needs

I need 1520 calories a day

Anybody who says they routinely eat under 1200 a day needs to use MFP more accurately

Where are the anorexics @Proplis

I think 2k calories is far too much for a sedentary woman! I'm worried lots of people are going to put on weight with this advice.

Are you very tall as well as very active?

I do 5:2 and calorie count including weighing food on other days. Trying to be a size 12 for a significant birthday.
I have a fit bit which is set for my height and weight. I'm vvv tall (6ft) and reasonably active. I burn about 2000 calories a day but eat under most days to lose. I think most people over eat and if they are not active gain weight. If you were 5ft you would burn a lot less and probably you should eat a lot less. As an aside, I was in Costa the other day and I struggled to find a snack under 400 calories

It's not as simple as calories in, calories out. On a low carb/high fat diet you can eat thousands of calories and still lose weight. If you drink alcohol, the body will prioritise processing that. If you have a fatty liver, you will find it very difficult to lose weight as your body will prioritise burning that fat rather than what you eat. A low carb diet is probably the best option for very overweight people yet they will be told to eat wholemeal bread, pasta etc.

I think most people underestimate how many calories they take in on any given day. I’m trying to lose 9st at the moment, I started at the beginning of February and I’m 1.5st down so far, using mfp has been a massively eye opener to be honest and really does open your eyes to how calorific meals are.
Yesterday I had advocado, bacon and little gem salad for lunch, a salmon fillet on mashed advocado for dinner with a spoonful of homemade dill sauce and a pot of Greek yogurt and berries for snack....that took me over 1200
I think it’s very easy to think oh it’s just a piece of cheese or it’s just a slice of ham etc but all those little bits and pieces add up, as do sauces/dressings and drinks. I’ve been drinking nothing but water so luckily can save my cals for actual food but I don’t know how people manage it when they’re used to multiple hot drinks a day with milk!

I need 1900 per day but do am obese. Currently trying to have 1200 to 1500.
Eating out is a nightmare. Somewhere like TGI Fridays has 1000 calorie starters. Yes starters. No wonder they don't put the calories on the menu.
These people who would gain weight on 1200 must be tiny.

I find it really hard work staying under 2000.

Breakfast 3/400.

Fruit as snack during the day 2/300

Milk in tea 1/200

Lunch 500

Dinner less than 7/800 and I’m still hungry

Wine 200

That’s just on normal days

What about going out, eating out, snacks, drinking, takeaways, parties, food on the go, social eating drinking?

That usually costs me another 1000 Cals.

@proplis Do you truly believe the people you are referring to have eating disorders? If so, why are you being so flippant? And if not, why are you using such a term as an insult?

On a low carb/high fat diet you can eat thousands of calories and still lose weight.
Bollocks

Salt and vinegar, totally agree, I’m doing bsd whichever is essentially high fat Lowe carb and it’s shocking how much worse refined carbs make you feel, since doing this I’ve found all the little bumps on my upper arms have gone, I’ve more energy and on the couple of occasions I’ve had a cheat, it’s made me feel sluggish and stomach achey

For me it would be loads. I really need to eat no more than 1,300 a day to maintain. I am short, small built and not very active though.

I have put some weight on so need to get back into calorie counting. It works well for me.

I could manage 2000 calories , but only if I am eating complete crap that doesn't full you up, or if I am eating out and drinking.

Yay all the anorexic are out in force....

That is just pathetic and offensive.

A coffee could be 300/400 calories a drink

What in the hell kind of coffee is that? A normal coffee with a bit of milk is maybe 30 to 40 calories at a push (which all comes from the milk).

If you buy those caramel mocha latte frapuccino monstrosities to cover the coffee flavour with mountains of sugar and milk because you actually don't like the taste of coffee, that's another matter.

2,000 calories is relative, no? An arbitrary number, to an extend irrelevant.

I’m 5’11” and very slim. I eat what I think is at/over 2,000 calories per day (caveat: I don’t eat carbs, I am LCHF, but don’t calorie count at all). But 2,000 calories for me is fine because I’m very tall, whereas for friends who are 5’2” it would be too much.

Everyone is different, we can’t tell every woman that calorie restriction to any certain level is the answer. Go online, calculate your TDEE and find a way of eating that works for YOU. Don’t be miserable - it isn’t worth it.

But if you go way over 2000 calories for a day, or even a few days - for example if you get bad PMT or on holiday - do you not find you tend to have less of an appetite, and reduce what you eat without trying over the next few days?

I'd have no problem eating loads of some days but I couldn't keep it up for a long period.

I ate loads during the week for example, as my period was due. Today and yesterday I've been far less hungry. But over a week, it probably all evens out.

If you go out for meals, drink wine or eat sugary stuff, you know y poi re going to be over 2000. And if you sit down.most of the day, that's too much. I lose weight sept- May, then put on.when.I.m doing less standing up.
Typical day:
1 x breakfast muffin
Banana
5oatcakes and philly.
Handful nuts
Chilli/ salmon veg sweet potato

That tends to put me under, unless i have wine/biscuit/ choc. I'm fairly tall and really don't need anymore food than that to survive. I do want crap though, which is eh y I'm about half a stone too heavy.

And I.only drink water or green tea. Apart from when I'm drinking alcohol.

NotUmbongoUnchained

It's expensive so lots of cheap cereal, everyday value biscuits and chocolate and cake. Meal wise I can have a pack of sauages, a few chicken kievs, vedge and cheesy pasta. On top toast/porridge/other stodge. Yep it's grosse. I have given up baking because I used to go through kgs of sugar.

300/400 calories on a coffee
Well yea if you are having a cappuccino from starbucks, that's 395 calories.
However
A black coffee with no sugar is 5 calories from home
Add milk and one sugar that's 35 calories from home
A latte from starbucks for their medium is 125 calories without sugar
Flat white 108 cals
Americano 16 cals

@octave777

Thankyou for sharing, I hope you didn’t think I was being judgmental, just genuinely curious! I can see how easy it can be, i reckon I could eat 10,000 cal in a day if I wasn’t so strict with what I eat.

It is not 'easy' to eat 10,000 calories. It really isn't.