Is 2000 cals a day REALLYneeded by an "average" woman?

[absolutelynotfabulous]

I'm constantly reading that the average woman uses 2000 cals a day. I think I'm pretty average, at 5'4 and 10st 7, and I put on weight at 1400 cals. I find it hard to lose, and I'm constantly battling that final stone. Not only would I struggle to eat 2000 cals, particularly on a regular basis, but I rarely expend 2000 cals even on a particularly active day (15000 steps).

I've just been reading yet another site in which 2000 cals daily is recommended.

Am I the only woman for whom 2000 cals is waaay too many?

2000 is way too high for me too, I think mainly because of my height - I'm 5"1.5. I've recently worked out that to lose weight, I need about 8000 calories a week. That gives a weight loss of about 1.5lbs per week. I was worried that the amount of calories was too low but when I looked into it a bit more, if I increased only by a relatively small amount, I'd put on weight. I've lost a a stone and a half and I'd like to lose one more before I try to work out how to eat to maintain.

No, YANBU, 2,000 calories is far too much for an average height middle aged woman in a sedentary job - and there's a lot of us about.....

Maintenance calories for someone in that situation is more like 1,500 or even less.

I thought it was 1500 for women and 2000 for men

RDA guides tend to say 1800 for women and 2000 for men I think. Depends a lot on how active you are of course.

I don't think it's needed. If I eat 2000 cals I gain weight.

Have you heard of the Basal Metabolic Rate calculator? Have a look at this and pop your details in; id say you are probably right!
Mine is definitely lower than 2000 even with the extra weight I have at moment!
www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm?sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjhvfPbx8nPAhWHC8AKHaDcAs4Q9QEIDjAA

I think I have about that. I'm 6ft, 10st7 and my basal metabolic rate (calories needed before doing any exercise) has been measured at 1500 cals. People do say I eat a lot thou😀

2000 is far too much for me.

I'm your height OP and eat 1500 per day.

Don't know any women my size and weight that eat 2000, it's too much.

I'm sure I read that the 2000 / 2500 cals recommendations were developed in the 1960s when we were dramatically less sedentary.

I easily go over that, but I'm very active.

2000 is too much for me. I need only 1100 a day because I'm only 5ft tall and not as active as I should be due to a long recovery from a broken leg . It's bloody difficult to only eat 1100 calories,breakfast, a few cups of tea and a couple of hob nobs and a reasonable dinner usually takes me over. Even if I were active I would only need 1400.

2000 is too high for me but I have an under active thyroid and a job where I sit on my arse all day.

I think if you have quite a physical job (nurse?) then 2000 might be about right.

5ft 7 and 11 stone and I can maintain my weight quite happily on around 2000 a day.

You had me until you said you would "struggle" to eat 2000 calories.

2000 isn't enough for me. I need about 2800 to keep a steady weight. I once counted calories over 4 consecutive days (that was all I could manage as it was so tedious weighing / measuring everything) as an experiment as I have always suspected I eat more than other people, and this confirmed my suspicions. I ate normally during the experiment and there was only about 300 kcals difference between the highest and the lowest days, so I think it was probably representative. I have been the same weight ( around 55kg, BMI about 19) for the past 10 years bar pregnancies. No idea why my calorie intake is higher than other people's - I have had thyroid tested and its normal.

Interesting thread...I've yo yo dieted for years.i think that has lowered the amount of calories I need before putting on weight.....I'm the person who puts on weight at slimming world and ww

I am 5'5" and weigh 11 stone. I would like to lose about a stone more (I've lost almost 3 stone already). When I was fatter, I lost weight eating 2000cal per day but now I need about 1500 to maintain and 1200 or less to lose. I'm finding it very tough to be honest. I was at my ideal weight 11 months ago but it has clearly been hard to maintain. I actually started to put weight back on when I started running - it's not bulk sadly, just purely overeating but running (training for 1/2 marathon) just made me sooo hungry all the time! Anyway it's done now so scaling back on food and exercise

I don't count calories in my food, I had no idea about calories until I got a FitBit, which tells you how many calories you are burning. I'm guessing I'm eating as many as I burn as my weight is steady.

Rainbow,I bet you have never dieted...that's my point.dieting lowers the rate you burn calories

I am very very active and myfitnesspal says I need 2120 cals a day to maintain, I've been eating 1200 to lose so there's no chance I can nearly double that

It's interesting how everyone seems to burn energy so differently.

It depends what you get your calories from OP.

I regularly eat around 2000 cal a day and I'm a size 8-10 and 5"7. I don't like exercising because I'm lazy

Th calculator further up says bmr is 1410
Fitbit says I burn around 2400 (my daily goal) and above a day, atm it says I've burned 2672 so far (I've done 3 fitness classes today)
It only asked height and weight, not build, I thought muscle made a difference

great is that cals burned exercising and existing or just exercising? If the latter then what are you doing??

I go on a 10 mile run and that's about 1000 cals (apparently, I don't really have much confidence in these estimates).

Some people just fidget more. There's research and everything.