Quick question about Daily calory intake!

J

juicyrooter

0
Hi there,
I have a very quick question about calories which is probably on the forum somewhere but I couldn't find it.

When they say that the recommended calory intake for a teen is 2500 per day, does that mean I could eat up to roughly 2500 calories without gaining any weight, if not how does it work?

Cheers.
 
juicyrooter said:
Hi there,
I have a very quick question about calories which is probably on the forum somewhere but I couldn't find it.

When they say that the recommended calory intake for a teen is 2500 per day, does that mean I could eat up to roughly 2500 calories without gaining any weight, if not how does it work?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

That's a bit too simple - there is no fixed number like that. How many " maintenance calories " ( i.e you won't gain or lose weight ) you need depends on many things like...

- your sex
- your age
- your weight
- your bodyfat %
- your height
- how active you are ( both in terms of sports/exercise or non sports activities )​

...and there are all sorts of formulas you can find on the internet that use some or all of these factors to guess what your daily maintenance calories should be. It could be 2,500 for one person, 1,800 for another and again, 3,600 for someone else....as I said, it all depends.:)
 
I see, do these online calculators work very accurately?
Also, what I am refering to when I say 2500 is on the back of food packets it always says that..?
 
2500 is for the average person - generally adults over 30 or so that aren't very active. Older folks don't need as many calories as you or I would, simply because we're younger and have a higher metabolism, are generally more active, and are still growing. Calorie calculators say that I burn anywhere from 3000-4000 calories per day! So, as you can see, the daily allowance that's standardized on foods is not really for youngsters like us.
 
thanks yea I'll keep that in mind.
I can't say I'm all that active these days, I'm a bit of a "computer person" :D

Although when I am active I do so in large portions, I.e the Gym so overall I just don't gain fat and break even, which I am sort of happy with.

thanks again.
 
The first thing you need to do is estimate how many calories your body needs. The best way to do this is to start with a body fat test to determine how much lean body mass you have. The idea is to set yourself up on a program that only gives you enough calories to feed your active tissue and not enough to maintain your existing body fat.
 
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