Is 2000 calories a day too much?

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I’m once again trying to take control of my weight gain as I have been steadily getting bigger for the last 13 years.

I’m being honest on my fitness pal, and I come in at around 2300 calories every day.

without tracking calories I would have thought I was really healthy. I eat mainly whole foods, no upfs, and 3 balanced meals per day.

each meal is over 700 calories.

I’m wondering if I just pull it down slightly to 2000 calories per day would that be slow and steady way to live?

I’m around 75kg and 5’6.

im really active and run a lot. When I started running I slimmed down massively- it’s all piled back on though.

would love to get under 70kg.

https://www.zavamed.com/uk/tdee-calculator.html

This shows to not lose weight and not to gain weight you need slightly less than 2,000 calories a day. (Assuming light active and around age 40)

to lose weight you would need to be closer to 1,750 a day. And then to stabilise around 69kgs you would be aiming for 1,895 calories a day to maintain that weight.

Some people are quite physically inert and rarely even walk. I'd say walk more, treat yourself more.

I’m 5ft8 and have been losing an average of 2.5lbs a week eating less than 1000 cals a day.
Focusing on protein, fibre and drinking tonnes of water.
I’d put on weight eating 2000.
I train in the gym 1-2 times a week.
I’m 49 and have a sedentary job.

2000 cals isn’t too much for me but you’ve only got to read the responses to see how different everyone is!

I am 48 yrs old, 5ft 4, 9 stone and maintain that weight on around 2000 cals a day. I do a fair bit of weightlifting, yoga and walking (15-20 hours a week total). When I’m not doing exercise, I don’t sit down much apart from maybe a couple of hours in the evening.

3 meals of over 700 calories a day sounds like a lot of food, especially if they're 'healthy' so not full of fatty sugary junk. If you're eating plenty of veg, salad and fruit along with lean protein, pulses, eggs and some dairy grains and carbs, you should be able to make decent sized meals for fewer calories than that.

How about reducing portion sizes and doing 16:8 so a late breakfast and early dinner. Instead of 3 × 750 calorie meals how about 400, 600, 800 so 1800 calories in total? If you're hungry in the morning have the big meal first and you'll probably be happy with a light dinner eg soup or omelette

If you stick to smaller meals, your stomach should adjust after a week and then you feel less hungry on a lower calory intake.

I'm 5ft 3in and around 9.5 stone.

I eat 1200-1300 calories and lose around 1-2lb a week. I do have a couple of "cheat" days every month otherwise I'd not stick to it.

I'm moderately active, doing some weight training and light impact martial arts around 3-5 times a week.

Everyone is different though, 2000 calories might work for you. I'd suggest try it for a month and then see where you are.

I'm 5' and 78kg and according to my watch I burn about 1600 as resting energy, then 4-600 active energy each day. I would absolutely gain if I was eating 2300kcals/day.

I generally eat about the 1600 and have maintained for the last 5 months. After Christmas I'll tweak that (try to drop it by a couple of hundred, make sure it's a bit cleaner, and bump up my walking) as I'd like to lose 10kg more so I'm just overweight, and not obese.

I've never heard of anyone losing weight on that much. It's more than most women need to maintain an average weight.

You'd need to go down by at least 500, if not more per day I think.

My TDEE is 1650 calories. To lose I need to be at 1200, 2000 would see me gaining pretty quick.

I do a lot of physical activity with my job and lifestyle and even I have to stick to under 1200 to lose weight, especially now I’m perimenopausal.

I’m 5ft2 and my deficit is 1900 calories per week. I do strength training and cardio 5 days a week and I’ve lost 9.5st in just under 2 years

It depends how active you are as well as your size and age, obviously.
Im 5’1” y nearly 65 - my TDEE is obviously low. In order to be able to eat a tolerable amount (and that’s doing 16:8 so no breakfast), I really need to walk about 8km every day. That’s not been happening lately because of the weather and stuff going on and I can tell from my jeans I’ve gained a bit.
If you’re going to calorie count, IME you need a fitness tracker too and use an app which integrates with it. I’ve got an Apple Watch and use the Nutracheck app. If I’m logging food properly it’s pretty accurate - maintain a slight deficit and I’ll gradually lose, go over a bit regularly and I’ll gain.

I'm taller than you, eat less calories, move a lot but still put on weight.

I would say your three 700 calories meals are too much.

I have a 700 calorie dinner but breakfast/lunch are both 400 calories.

Breakfast = muesli.
Lunch = Greek yoghurt/seeds

Good luck

Its amazing to see how different we all are. Im 5ft6 and 65kg and I gain if I go over 1500kcal. To lose any I have to be well under 1200 and it takes FOREVER to come off, torture! I also run 5k 4 times a week and weights/yoga twice per week but have a sedentary job. If I ate 2000kcal daily I would gain half a stone very quickly.

2000 is my maintenance calories - 45, 5'4, somewhat active. OP you don't have to cut down by 500 a day if that's too much. Cut down by 300 and you'll lose weight albeit more slowly.

You've never heard of fat people then?!
when I was obese I had a TDEE of 2400 a day. Cut down to 2000 and lost weight. TDEE varies from person to person.

Yep, 2000 calories is for an average adult male below the age of 30, one who is active. Stop eating carbs and you will stop being hungry.

Anything under 1800 per day is actually really hard to do if you have three meals a day. Just because of the size of portions for most things. Especially if you ever eat out. (Look at menus with calories on).

I'm 5'2 and I need even less than that.

Once you understand this and the idea that you need to massively reduce portion sizes or skip meals it's easier. But still a pain in the arse. Food envy is the worst.

This

I'd suggest trying 2000 and adjusting downwards after 2 weeks if you don't lose weight. It may not be too much for you if you're active and haven't been restricting so far.

That seems a lot , I’m 5ft10 and also run - 1800 is about average for me , on an inactive day 1400 /1500 . Those amounts were significantly higher prior to menopause though

@Pavementworrier

OP runs, never minds walks. she is active. But your weight is 80% diet, 20% exercise so she can’t just walk more and then eat more and expect to get results

I’m about your height and 73kg. I can’t be fucked dieting. I eat healthily and I am active. It is far healthier to be a stable weight and a little heavy than to have a weight go up and down dramatically. I eat around 1800 calories. I couldn’t sustain fewer.

It is too much unless you’re very busy physically every day.