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?

FV45 btw I am also FV45

That's existing and exercising. I agree that the estimates are maybe not accurate. I run three times a week and walk the dog every day.

I don't think I eat a lot (normal but healthy) but according to FitBit it averages about 2,500 cal a day.

5'8 and about 9st 3.

I don't know what the average woman is but could guess at age 40, reasonably sedentary job but exercises for an hour 3 times a week, 5'5", weighs 10 stone.

What does Fitbit or MyFitnessPal say?

2000 is vastly too much for me. But I am 54, 5'2" and sedentary to the point of being asleep most of the time.

Snakes alive there's probably truth in that. If you diet regularly, your body goes into starvation mode and conserves energy, and probably stays in that mode after you've stopped dieting ( like an evolutionary survival mechanism in periods of famine). If we ever get a famine, I'll be the first to die...

Way too much for me and I am 5' 7.5.

Hello fellow runner and racer great!

I'm 5'7" and 8 st 9 (a little bit underweight at the mo due to stress).

When I'm eating normally I don't have a clue how many cals I eat. But my weight is normally about 9 st so I guess it's ok.

I'm 5'9 and 12st 12 and currently eating 2000 a day to lost 1lb a week

But I'm very active. If I was less active I guess I could eat 2000 a day and stay the same weight so it's about right for me.

Well, that link has my BMR at 1450.
If I do the recommended 10,000 steps a day, that's another 400. So 2000 sounds about right to me on average with a couple of excerise classes a week. But I have no idea how many calories I eat or burn.

My bmr comes out at 1347. If I add on my 10000 steps, that's 400 to add on so, yeah, even with exercise I'm well below 2000.

I've often wondered if my long-term calorie-counting habit has buggered my metabolism.

.

....and according to fitbit, I rarely burn 2000.

It probably hasn't impacted your metabolism- it's just that calories needs are much lower than they were when the 2000 calorie benchmark was set- far fewer people had cars, more people walked to work etc, housework was less automated. People who have a desk job, drive to work/ the shops etc just don't burn many calories. The research shows that dieting doesn't permanently crash your metabolism anyway, it readjusts back up over time. However, a larger person will have higher calorie needs than a smaller person, all other things being equal, which is why as you lose weight, your calories requirements will fall.

I reckon I'm at about 2,200- I'm 41, 5'7'', 63kg. I do a desk job (so literally sit on my arse 8 hrs a day) but I walk 5k to and from work every day and run about 40k a week of trail (so calorie equivalent of 60k on the road)

I'm relieved at that, keyser. I try to walk as much as possible, but on office days I struggle. It just goes to show, really, how easy it is to become sedentary. I'm 57, and there is research that suggests that older women lose muscle mass, causing a slowing-down in metabolism. So it's downhill all the way for the likes of me!

I can't understand why the Govt and other sites are still peddling an unrealistically high calorie allowance. Fine if you're up to date through having done your own research, but I wonder how many of us are up to date?

I appreciate we're all different, but..if the Govt is serious about obesity, the facts should be right at least.

As I understand it, the BMR is calculated as the energy your body uses in a resting and fasting state (12 hours after eating). If you allow for plenty of movement throughout the day, along with the fact that your metabolic rate increases after a meal for several hours, your daily calorie needs will be quite a bit higher, with how much higher obviously depending mainly on how active you are, as well as how much and how often you eat. If I'm sitting still for a long time such as on a long journey I feel noticeably colder as time goes on as my metabolic rate is dropping due to inactivity. Similarly, if I haven't eaten for a while, I feel the cold more. I would take the BMR calculations with a pinch of salt as they don't reflect your real life situation, unless perhaps you're stuck on a long distance flight with no food!

The linked calculator puts my BMR at 1260.

That may well be so low because I'm in my 50s.

I looked myself up on a TDEE calculator the other day, and came in IIRC at about 1700.

auntiestella on that basis you should be losing weight then?

An undereat of about 500 cals per day? Not sure I've got the science right....

My understanding is that bmr+exercise-calories burned (tdee) = calorie deficit.

That right? .

So: if you want to lose a pound, which is 3000 calories(?), you need to amass a calorie deficit of that amount.

If you want to lose a pound a week, you need to divide the 3000 by 7 (days) = 430 cals a day approx.

Righto.

So, for me, with a bmr of 1320, I need to eat 1320-430=809 cals per day.

That's without any additional calories gained through exercise.

Cripes. That's not many calories for a day's eating. No wonder it's hard.

I'm 5'4" so I'd say about 1500 on a day with no exercise.

Sorry for confusion!

I'm not eating only my BMR calories, at least not now.

But yes I have been changing my eating habits this year, and have also become more active. So yes I am experimenting with finding the eating (and drinking!) pattern that keeps me roughly where I am (BMI is now 19-point-something and I want to stay between 19 and 20).

And yes, I lost weight when I had MFP set to 1200 and pretty much kept to it.

way too much. I work out, I walk to work, I try to eat the right things and no way could I eat that much.

1,650 most days with less some days and more some days.
My BMI is 23 which is towards the higher end so I suppose I ought to be eating fewer calories!

I'm 9stone and 5'5" and 2000 is fine for me I actually think I usually eat about 2300 per day. I'm a bit active but not extreme.

It's average 2000

So some will need1500 (OP)

Others 2500 or more (me, as 6ft and active-ish)

Think it's 3,500 calories for a pound.

And tdee isn't really bmr plus excercise. Bmr is what you expend just keeping alive. Unless you just lie in bed all day and don't even get up to go to the loo, your tdee will be a few hundred cals higher.

My tdee is roughly 1800 but I lose fairly consistently at 1500. I've lost a stone and a half since August.

I tend to think of calories over a week rather than per day so as long as it averages at 1500 per day, I'm happy.

A takeaway and a bottle of wine plus normal lunch and breakfast can push things t well over 3000 a day...so some days I'll eat at well under 1500 to compensate. I start feeling spectacularly deprived otherwise.

But yes, I do think the statement that the average woman needs 2000 cals a day is misleading. I'd put on weight at that.

Don't eat 800 cals a day, btw, unless you're under medical supervision.

I'm 5'3" and 9s12. I'm currently training for a half marathon so running 3x a weeks, cross training and strength. I have 2 rest days a week.

I probably eat around 2000 cal a day now. My bmr is 1400 cal so anything above that, without exercise and I put in weight.

I'm not loosing but maintaining atm. I would say for the average person in a regular office job 2000 cal is way too much

I must've done the maths wrong. I don't regularly eat 800 cals a day. But this is the bit I don't get: how does someone with a low bmr, who is inactive (maybe through illness) lose or even maintain weight without eating a low-calorie diet?

If those people eat the "recommended" cals per day they are bound to put on weight, and pretty quickly.

We seem to be so different, though! So why treat us as though we're the same?

absolute 2000 is the average (apparently!). If you need less than that then it's not a low cal diet, it's the diet that is right for you. If you need 1200 to maintain a healthy weight then that's not a low cal diet.