What is the right amount of calories to be consumed by a healthy 30 something male or female who does not much exercise- desk job. I was getting conflicting answers of figures between 1100 and 1700 for women and between 1200 and 2200 for men. Please let me know your thoughts...
Well, because of my desk job I am currently at 1200 calories a day. I am 27, close enough to 30 :) I wouldn't ever go under 1200 because that is the minimum you can have as a woman before your body goes into starvation mode. Hope this helps somewhat...
Melissa
from taking classes from my nutrition class ideally you should never go under 1,200 calories a day whether female or male. It makes your body hold onto all the food you consume and store it as fat once you start eating over that amount again.
Original Post by melissaperko:
Well, because of my desk job I am currently at 1200 calories a day. I am 27, close enough to 30 :) I wouldn't ever go under 1200 because that is the minimum you can have as a woman before your body goes into starvation mode. Hope this helps somewhat...
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
I'm new here but saw your answer above. It would help me to know what you eat during an average day, as I am currently at 1350 calories per day and struggling to stay within that limit. I feel fairly hungry around mid-afternoon, since I don't eat dinner until around 7pm. I eat low-carb, and try to make every calorie count, but would like to lower my limit to 1200. Do you have some suggestions?
Many thanks,
Suzyannie
I had problems with midafternoon cravings, too, but it helped when I started eating four smaller meals per day instead of three.
I eat breakfast at 7 am, lunch at 11, a snack at 3 pm, and dinner at 7 pm.
Each meal provides about the same amount of calories. Because I'm following the Flat Belly Diet, that amounts to about 400 calories per meal--the snack included! To keep at 1200 per day, you could probably do 300 calories per meal. Just make sure it's balanced, and don't skimp on the snack. It's a very important meal.
I have a colleague who does five meals a day in a similar way. She just eats smaller amounts at each meal.
It helps me because I know I can eat something in the middle of the afternoon, so I don't get huge cravings through the afternoon that then make me binge at dinner.
As to the original post... well, it depends on more than just whether you exercise or not. That's why you're getting a range of answers--it depends on your body structure, metabolism, what types of foods you eat, etc.
As a start, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) can help you decide how many calories your body needs just to perform basic functions. You can figure that out here. But that's just what your body needs if you do absolutely nothing else all day--lying in bed not moving.
The activity types here at Calorie Count can help you add in how much your desk job, walking to and from public transit, singing in your church choir, or etc, adds to that--e.g., how many calories you, specifically, need to do the things you do every day. Just go to the Activity Log and fill in the things you typically do in a day to find out how many calories your activities burn. Add those numbers to your BMR and you'll see, basically, the number of calories you'd need to maintain your current weight. Cut the amount you consume every day back from that number if you want to lose without adding exercise. Of course, if you can add exercise, that will help you lose faster.
But the other folks here are right: a woman should never go below 1200 calories per day, or your body will go into starvation mode and start storing all the calories you consume, while it starts to eat away at your own muscle. Men should never go below 1500 calories.
Good luck!
The problem I have is that I struggle to get to 1000 calories... Only by snacking more than I actually want can I get my calorie count up... :( It usually means that by the afternoon I have to raid the kitchen looking for stuff that isn't too unhealthy, but has enough calories to get to 1000!!
I gained weight because I tended to live off snacks, because I was too busy for meals, apart from the evning meal. Now I have a Shake in the morning, and a meal replacement bar for lunch, and a normal meal in the evening. I started about 3 weeks ago, and have lost 3 kilos in that time...
Anybody got some advice?
