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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How many calories do you eat?

218 replies

blaisealex · 08/06/2021 19:56

How many calories a day do you eat?

How old are you and what is your height and weight?

I'm 25 with a BMI of 37 at 15st 7. I was consuming at a guess 3000+ a day.
Currently dieting with calorie counting and reducing intake.

I'm having around 1000 calories a day now but really, I'm wondering, once I get to a weight I'm happy with, how many calories I should then be having to maintain.

So it would be interesting to hear how many calories people have daily.

OP posts:
proopher · 08/06/2021 23:11

I'm 5'11 and a size 8-10 and ate 1200 to lose weight. I should eat around 1600 to maintain but I normally end up eating around 1800.

YellowFish12 · 08/06/2021 23:12

Today I had a big sushi pack from Tesco, a tub of pineapple, 2 packs of walkers, one banana and 2 fajitas with cheese and I don't feel hungry at all

I’m not sure you should be giving out nutrition advice 😂

youvegottenminuteslynn · 08/06/2021 23:13

5'7" and 10 stone.

Currently averaging 1200 calories daily and maintaining rather than losing or gaining.

I guess if I was to use my calorie intake on different food groups, that could change?

I am sort of relearning eating after ED recovery so it's all a bit of a shock to the system.

Thanks to diet culture there's such a huge amount of conflicting information out there and as someone in recovery (have put on 3 stone in as many years and now - I think? - a healthy weight) it's so overwhelming I often feel I'm guessing, which is a worrying reflection on how toxic diet culture is!

Hawkins001 · 08/06/2021 23:15

My calories vary, depends on what goodies I've acquired from the reduced sections in the supermarket, although I am trying to balance my weight and start to exercise more and be better with my diet.

Poppetgems · 08/06/2021 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Meaty226 · 08/06/2021 23:28

I remember doing medical research as a student. They gave us calorie controlled portions so we wouldn't gain or lose weight and they weighed us daily.

I felt hungry but, over 2 weeks of being locked up in a hospital, I didn't lose or gain any weight.

In normal life, I ate and drank everything I wanted and didn't gain weight - but (at that age!) I also ran over 50 miles a week so I suspect that had something to do with it.

The forced restricted calories and being sedentary and the being hungry but not losing weight was an education for me

PickAChew · 08/06/2021 23:30

@GiveTheGirlAGun

Have you got a garmin watch or equiv? It tells you in the app an approximation of your total calories burned. If you make sure you've a clear 500 kcal defecit you'll lose weight. There's a few online calculators that'll show you your metabolic rate too. They say 2000kcals for women, but ime that is way too high if you're sedentary or moderately active.
You'll lose weight with any calorie defecit. Speed may vary.
salsamad · 08/06/2021 23:41

I’m 55 yrs old and 5ft 5 tall and weighing 9st 5lb with a BMI of 21.
I’m very active - run & cycle twice a week plus two hour long walks on other days. I use a basic fitbit watch to check my exercise and balance the calories I use up against my calories consumed through food & drink.
2,000 calories a day is too many for me and dieting/loosing weight is definitely harder as you get older.

Womendohavevaginasnick · 08/06/2021 23:44

Excersise more. Don't Starve yourself.

nanbread · 09/06/2021 00:22

I eat loads - would guess 3000 calories some days, probably 2500 average - and don't do much exercise. I'm 9st5 and in my 40s, 166cm. I'm pretty flabby around my middle and could do with losing at least half a stone.

No idea why but I clearly have a higher than average metabolism reading this! No way could I live on less than 1500 cals for more than a few days.

Chesneyhawkes1 · 09/06/2021 04:05

@HelenHywater they are just basically the amount of protein, carbs, fibre, fat etc I need to eat a day.

I got mine worked out for me by someone and I stick to them as close as I can

WeepingKitten · 09/06/2021 05:30

I put on alot of weight during lockdown. But the weight had been creeping up anyway. I have lost 4 stone since the start of april. I am eating 1500 on average (the odd times a couple of hundred more) Works getting much busier now after lockdown and we are short staffed. So i'm burning aroud around 1500 - 2400 a day. I'm gardening or out walking on my days off. Rather than sat around eating junk food like I did in lockdown.

My dh is also counting calories which is making it easier for me. He gets 2000 calories a day. We keep a food diary and I record everything we eat in it. Writing it down helps me. I would just be grazing the whole time otherwise.

We don't obsess about it though. We allow ourselves to have treat days. We went on a birthday picnic with relatives. We took lots of fruit and low cal cake and snacks. But ate what we wanted and didn't count anything. We have another special day coming up and we are far too excited about the prospect of cake.

Goatinthegarden · 09/06/2021 05:36

@Poppetgems

ozanj no I’m not but I’m only eating three pieces of toast a day and perhaps a piece of fruit. I don’t think I’m breaking more than 800calories. I put weight on bed easily. Working at home isn’t helping me. I’m just sat. I try and walk after work but don’t always get chance.
This is definitely not a healthy way to live.
lljkk · 09/06/2021 07:11

Average maintenance intake reported here is 1800

cupsofcoffee · 09/06/2021 07:15

I eat about 2000 calories a day but I'm a dog walker so I walk around 15-20k steps per day and I also horse ride. Being active definitely helps!

lljkk · 09/06/2021 07:23

on this thread, 10 stone (63 kg) is average. Meanwhile, average British woman is 70kg. Inflating 1800 by 11% would mean average maintenance kcal for British women would be.... (drumroll please)... 2000 kcal/d

Sounds vaguely familiar...

HalfShrunkMoreToGo · 09/06/2021 07:25

@Poppetgems

ozanj no I’m not but I’m only eating three pieces of toast a day and perhaps a piece of fruit. I don’t think I’m breaking more than 800calories. I put weight on bed easily. Working at home isn’t helping me. I’m just sat. I try and walk after work but don’t always get chance.

This is very disordered eating, a slice of bread, even assuming thick sliced is 120 calories or less. So you are having 360 calories of bread a day.

Assuming your having some kind of light spread on it let's say another 100 so 460 calories and sometimes a piece of fruit.

At most you are having 600 calories a day, that's very very significantly below what you should be eating, you are also missing oit on most vitamins and nutrients so must be malnourished.

I really would recommend contacted your GP and asking for nutritionist support to better understand what you should and can eat.

Morgan12 · 09/06/2021 07:27

1000 calories is honestly ridiculous. You are not a toddler.

BasinHaircut · 09/06/2021 07:36

The problem with going to low on calories OP, is that you just won’t stick to it long term.

The reason very low calorie diets don’t work (in the sense that you will not keep the weight off) either is that IF you reach your goal, you will just return to old eating habits after and therefore old calorie intakes.

You need to find out at which calorie intake you will lose, but can also stick to long term. As PPs say, find out your TDEE and then reduce by 10-20%. It will be a lot more than 1,000 per day.

Then you need to try and find ways to fill that number of calories with as much VOLUME of food as possible. So choosing lean protein sources and veggies over most other things. Something like a stir fry with a chicken breast diced up and thrown in is a good example. You can add some noodles too, but instead of using a sweet pre-prepared sauce, use a teaspoon of miso paste, some minced garlic and soy sauce for flavour. Things such as this will fill your plate but be low on calories.

Another example is my dinner from a couple of days ago, pic attached. 2 egg, 45g cheese omelette, ham, homemade coleslaw with light Mayo and mustard, rocket lettuce dressed in balsamic. Just under 500kcals but a huge plate full.

If you do it this way, you will naturally work out your maintenance calories along the way. You might need to re-do your TDEE as you lose weight as it will change, but you will have learnt to eat in a way that is satisfying and maintainable along the way, so you don’t return to old habits once you are done.

It has to be a lifestyle change, not a diet.

Good luck OP.

How many calories do you eat?
BoomChicka · 09/06/2021 07:55

I'm 5'8 and maintain on 1600, have to stick to 1200 to lose.. but.. I'm a sloth in an office 45 hours a week so I only get out for a walk at weekends. If I exercised I would be starving on 1200.

Pea1985 · 09/06/2021 08:07

I use my fitbit stats as a base and aim for q small calorie deficit of 200-300 calories each day. The amount I can consume depends on how active I am that day. Generally I can have between 1900-2300. I'm 5ft 7. I was 14st 1.5 years ago. I'm now 12st 5 having lost weight very gradually over this time. I could lose weight more quickly if I had a bigger calorie deficit but I love food too much! I have another stone to go and when I get to my target weight I will stop the deficit and eat what I burn off to hopefully maintain.

Thestreets · 09/06/2021 08:09

Shit loads

SpnBaby1967 · 09/06/2021 08:11

My BMI is 27 and I'm currently calorie counting. I aim for 1200-1500.

MarmaladeToastAndAMarmaladeCat · 09/06/2021 08:17

I am 5’7 and weigh 10 stone 10. At the start of January I was 13 stone 8. I’ve eaten 1200 calories a day and lost nearly 3 stone.

1200 calories is perfect for me as I can fit in 3 meals a day plus small, healthy snacks and I don’t feel deprived and it’s sustainable for me. My weight loss is slowing down as I get closer to my goal weight I’m getting more relaxed with calorie counting so occasionally go up to 1500 a day.

Icancelledthecheque · 09/06/2021 08:23

@blaisealex

Apparently my BMR for my current weight is 1752. This seems like too much though for weight loss. I can't see myself losing much at 1752.
I lose around 2lb a week on 1,600 calories - I am 5’7”, and 10.5 stone! My BMI is normal so I guess around 23. I do 10k steps a day.

I’m maintaining my weight on around 2,000.

1,000 calories is not enough because it’s incredibly difficult to provide your body with the nutrition it needs in so few calories. 1,700 calories of the correct food and you will lose weight. Even the skinniest people can lose weight on 1,200, if that’s genuinely what they’re eating.

You will also end up binging because starvation calories are not sustainable in the long term. My advice would be to eat at least 1,700 calories of good food (eat 30g of fibre a day, low fat and high protein so you lose fat, not muscle and salt weight) and drink plenty of water. Fibre and water aid weight loss. Do your 10,000 steps a day to boost your metabolism. And don’t deny yourself (small, controlled) treats.

If you’re TTC then it’s important for your long term health too so quick fixes aren’t the answer.