Calorie Range?

I was wondering if a calorie range of 1650-1700 would be ok to maintain on and not gain any weight. I'm a 16 year old male, 5 ft 7 in. I guess you could call me skinny, I also run for 40-45 minutes everyday.

I'm 5'4".
and a girl.
and 96 pounds.
and when I run for 45 minutes, I eat closer to 1800.

Original Post by burliminator:

I was wondering if a calorie range of 1650-1700 would be ok to maintain on and not gain any weight. I'm a 16 year old male, 5 ft 7 in. I guess you could call me skinny, I also run for 40-45 minutes everyday.

 No. In fact that's barely safe to lose weight on.

You probably need closer to 3,000 to maintain. Yes I'm serious. 

im 5'8 and 110lbs, female :)

im lightly active but i walk ALOT since i live in a city. I maintain with 1800 calories a day. I could eat more and still maintain tho :)

I'm nearly twice your age, female, 110 pounds and I maintain on more than that. Don't deprive yourself, 1700 is way too little for you.

At 16 you are still growing.  Your body needs more calories to fuel all that growing and developing you are doing. 

The question on my mind is why you are only getting (or contemplating) 1650-1700 calories per day?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that caloric intake not be below 1800 in MEN. Keep in mind that 1800 per day for men is considered "quite low". For your age and activity you really need more to stay healthy and continue growing and developing.

I pulled the following quote from www.teengrowth.com.

"The recommended daily allowance for the average teenage boy is 2500-3000 calories. The current recommendation is for calories to be derived from carbohydrate (50-60 percent) fat (20-30 percent) and protein (10-20 percent), through a well-balanced daily meal pattern."

You can also use the following formula to determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This will tell you what you need to maintain your weight by just being alive. Keep in mind this will not truly compensate for your youth but you will get the idea.

BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Now, apply the Harris-Benedict formula to your BMR to adjust for your activity.

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

If you provide honest input then you will get a fair assessment of what you need to maintain. However, since you have not fully developed I would consider these results to be the BARE MINIMUM!

I ran some preliminary numbers assuming you weighed about 110 and were Moderately active; the result was a BMR of 2084, meaning that's the minimum caloric intake you need to maintain.  That's nearly 400 calories less than the recommended minimum for your age.

I hope this helps. Eat more, eat well.

Hi Burliminator!  You mentioned your height, age, and activity level but you didn't mention how much you actually weigh.  For the majority, calories are based off of your weight so it is hard to give you any advice without knowing that important factor.

I agree with others mentioning that 1650-1700 calories is much too low.  Did you know that the tools on CC are geared towards adults who are 19yr old and up.

Check out these sites for information geared towards teens:


Nutrition & Health for Teens
calculator and calorie information for Teens