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?

I probably eat around 2000 per day, but base that only on what people are saying for average meals on this thread as I don't count calories. According to the TDEE link above that's about right for my age, height, ideal weight and fitness level (light). At the moment I weigh more than my ideal because of medication I'm on.

@IMightMentionGriddlebone
Bread Warburtons small which is 55 calories per slice so 110 calories.
I am sparingly with butter because I don't really like butter and like my toast almost dry.
So nowhere near 317 calories

Lunch 311 calories. I have it scanned from when I was counting

Beef stew
The beef 122 calories
Garlic 3 cloves - 9 calories
Onion x 1 A small onion 29 calories
Leek x1 54 calories
Carrots x 3 75 calories (they weigh around 60 calories each
Sweet potato x 1 88 calories
celery x 3 18 calories
Parsnip x 1 I don't have one to weigh, so I'll be conservative and say 50g after peeling. 37 calories
tin of tomatoes I used Tesco Everyday Value Chopped Tomatoes - 74 calories a tin

506 calories

Total comes in at 927. Have just counted everything using Google

I shop everywhere. I'm not loyal to one supermarket so use them all.

I weigh everything and use a fit bit! I think critically for me at least a portion is about half what I thought

So still more than 860, then?

I would be very curious to see what you would get if you made that meal again weighing your ingredients at the time. I do, not, for instance, believe 88 calories for a sweet potato.

A sweet potato is more like 120 odd calories, the 88 is for a hundred grams. Obviously they then come in varying sizes. So a bigger potato would be more than 120 calories.

I'd say the parsnip is under estimated too, unless you take a lot off with the peel or use very small ones.

The smallest sweet potato I have in at the moment- it's titchy!- is 128g. Normally they're more like 200-300g.

Yes, based on that menu, spring trolls, you're probably on about 120-1300 a day calorie wise, that's assuming you don't have anything additional, ie milk in your tea or coffee the occassional biscuit or piece of chocolate, which would bring you way over.

I'd be massive if I ate 2000 calories every day, but I'm short, in my 50's and have a fairly sedentary job (though I do exercise regularly).

I had a small sweet potato. The scaled weight was 102 grams when i purchased it.
Yes 67 calories out which isn't a lot.
But ok, lets round it up to a 1,000 to satisfy the differences in weight of sweet potato and parsnip.
Like I said, I struggle to get to 1,200.

Today I have had a banana and that's it. I'm not hungry and cannot force myself to eat. I will be going later so dinner and with my 5 bean chili I may also have a glass of Pepsi to bump the calories.
So that will be 493 calories for the beans.
105 calories for the banana and possibly 167 cal for the pepsi.
So max 765 calories.
And even if I had the toast and sandwich, the intake would be 1,187

I'm having the 5 bean because no-one at home likes it before anyone asks. I know the calories because I have checked for this thread. I actually thought it was more.

I eat when I am hungry. I don't eat for the sake of eating. I don't eat cakes because I don't like the texture nor the taste of egg free.
I rarely eat chocolate.
I don't really drink milk. Have my tea and coffee when I do drink it black without sugar.
I can count on one hand how many times I have had cheese this year.

It really depends on the foods you choose.
Today I've eaten the following.

Breakfast:
2 x 5% fat sausages
6 x bacon medallions
Brown sauce

Lunch:
Banana protein shake
40g special K

Dinner:
Prawn, vegetable and hoisin sauce stir fry.

Snacks:
Beef jerky.

Total calories = 1090

Springtrolls, what are you having in your star bucks coffee if you only drink it black but star bucks coffee would add a couple of hundred calories?

Have my tea and coffee when I do drink it black without sugar

If I had gone Starbucks and had a coffee I could have added a coupleof hundred more calories and gone over 1200

I don't know, it just seems you appear desperate to be seen as not consuming much, which is concerning. Why is it so important to uou?

I think 2000 is quite a lot. I am only 5ft 5, I don't need that amount. I have around 1500. 300 for breakfast, 400 for lunch 6/700 for dinner and the rest in milk in tea and fruit.

I do have nearer 2000 at the weekend but that's because I'll have a couple of glasses of wine.

It does depend on what you choose to eat. I rarely eat sweet stuff, just doesn't do it for me. My DH bough some individual serving cheesecakes the other day and i was shocked to see they were 350 cals each, that's lunch!! I love cheese, avocados and nuts.They are my treat foods but I only eat small amounts.BMI 22, I walk the dog for 45 mins 365 days a year, I zumba and I use an exercise bike. I'm 47.

I am not desperate to appear to be not consuming much. I am just saying how hard I find reaching 1200 so getting to 2000 like the op is impossible and to me, it's actually loads.
I have put what I have eaten because people seem to find it hard to believe that a person can eat less than 1200 calories. Seems some people on this thread are finding this really important. Wonder why? Others are also saying they don't reach 1200. Others are posting they are eating 3000. We are all different with our appetites.

The starbucks was tongue in cheek. I know coffee doesn't have that many calories. I put the coffee calories in further up the thread when someone said coffee can easily have 200/300 calories.

My bmi is 22.8, I’m 5”3 and weigh 9.2 stone, some days I eat 1200 cal and other days I eat 3000 but I eat mainly fruit, veg, meat and fish, not too many carbs, I exercise every day, gym, swim and walk (not all in one day, well sometimes), I still want to loose a bit of weight and tone my tummy but I seem to have come to a halt, if I cut back my food intake people start telling me I look ill. A normal day for me is....

Breakfast- small bowl of poridge with some fruit.
Lunch- cup a soup or home made soup.
Dinner- stir fry or home made stew with extra veg. Yoghurt and fruit.
Snack- usually fruit and a small amount of chocolate (kinder bar, kitkat) and sometimes a biscuit.

I’m trying to cut down on my fruit intake as I probably consume way too much sugar, I have a sweet tooth and I thought fruit was fine but probably not the amount I consume.

Forfeiting a 200-300 calorie latte and at least the same again in flapjacks won't make you hungry.

I am just saying how hard I find reaching 1200 so getting to 2000 like the op is impossible and to me, it's actually loads.
I have put what I have eaten because people seem to find it hard to believe that a person can eat less than 1200 calories. Seems some people on this thread are finding this really important.

But you don't eat like you've described for today everyday. I know this because you would be severely malnourished and hospitalised. Also, you must know that eating nothing but a banana by 5pm isn't normal, so how does it contribute to a conversation about average/normal/reasonable intakes?

I agree that you seem incredibly invested in insisting that you subsist on an implausibly small amount of food.

why this obsession with what springtrolls has ate when other posters haven't come under such scrutiny? Find that a bit unfair.

Just had what I thought was an enormous dinner and it was 600 calories, I'd love to be one of those people who could eat a 3 course meal but have never been able to. We're all different, all got different body types and all have different habits.

What's definitely the case though is that many more people are overweight and obese than should be the case so seems obvious that many women are eating way more than what they need.

Seems some people on this thread are finding this really important. Wonder why?

Fairly certain I've discussed that in some detail in two posts. The knock-on effects of progressive long-term malnutrition aren't great.

If you are having difficulty reaching your calorie threshold, try incorporating more calorie-dense foods. Peanut butter, or any other nut butters (could work on your toast), whole nuts, or use olive oil for cooking. Dried fruit, like raisins, sultanas and dates, is also a quick and non-filling source of calories.

If all else fails: Kendal Mint Cake.

why this obsession with what springtrolls has ate when other posters haven't come under such scrutiny

I think it's the way she's writing, no adult in thr uk thinks 1200 calories a day is a huge amount and something they would struggle to eat. Not unless they are very unwell with a eating disorder. Yes people are posting they survive on that, but that's not what she's posting, she's posting she's on way less and couldn't manage to consume 1200, it's just too much food apparently . So something is very wrong. No one well would say 1200 calories is such a large quantity of food they couldn't eat it.

You then couple it with I've only eaten a banana all day and maybe you can understand why we are questioning this. Either she's being goady or she's not well.

Based on your last response, I'm sorry spring trolls, I'm going with the latter, if you know you're unwell you shouldn't be posting on this thread like your food intake is normal.💐

This is a really good plan that somebody mentioned up thread
there was a thing in a recent copy of Rosemary Connolly's magazine suggesting 800 cals Monday to Friday and whatever you want on the weekends

Its pretty much what I've done for several years

Springtrolls - how are you getting calcium into your diet - I'm just curious.
I'm 5ft 2 weight 12stone 7llbs and am 53 - my TDEE came out at 1200 on MFP which I'm sticking too (nearly!!) - I'm enjoying it and eating much more veg - I just need to add in some walking and I will be eating the calories used!!!

my TDEE came out at 1200 on MFP
I strongly doubt that.
Did you set MFP to no weight loss ?
The link I posted up thread is more reliable