If the av person should eat 2000, then why can I only eat 1650 to maintain? Bummer!!

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cyberblonde
cyberblonde Posts: 100 Member
edited February 2015 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!
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Replies

  • nreuter1
    nreuter1 Posts: 8
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    Although I'm currently losing weight, I will be in the same situation as you when I want to maintain. I find it a low number too, I thought it would be more like 1800. Perhaps play around with amount a bit - if you find you are still losing weight at 1650, up it by 100 and so on. Of course eating to maintain is still watching what you eat, but I don't want it to feel like a chore.
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
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    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!
    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    How big are you? The average "person" is probably about 5'7" and 180lbs. (Male is 5'9" and 195lbs, Female is 5'4" and 166lbs).
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Are you eating 1650 flat or 1650 plus exercise calories to maintain?
    If you are following the MFP method then that would be close to the 2000 "average" for a woman.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    What's your height/weight? The average person is bigger than I am, so I can't eat that much. My maintenance is 1600 plus exercise calories. It comes out to about 1800/day.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited February 2015
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    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Have you ever actually tried? Do you have any real world data to look at or are you just blindly trusting a calculator for which you may or may not have accurately put in information...like you probably said you are sedentary when in reality, even with a desk job and without exercise, you are probably not. When you tack on regular exercise to that, you are probably in fact close to having a maintenance number of right around 2,000 calories give or take.

    I too have a desk job, but even without deliberate exercise I am pretty much light active (as per observed real world results)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    A lot of people here are maintaining with less calories than they should because they increase their calories, gain normal water weight, and freak out because of it... so they eat less than they potentially could.

    I'm 36, 5'5", 133 pounds, and from the math of the last 6 months, I maintain at 2200, exercising in average 30 minutes a day. So you're a bit older than me but can probably maintain at 2000 easily.
  • Lrdoflamancha
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
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    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans

    I must ask are you a troll or do you believe this?
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    Lrdoflamancha wrote: »
    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans

    I must ask are you a troll or do you believe this?

    Could you please quote correctly. Now it seems like you posted the nonsense.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Katerina9408 wrote: »
    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!
    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans.

    Nope...

  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
    How big are you? The average "person" is probably about 5'7" and 180lbs. (Male is 5'9" and 195lbs, Female is 5'4" and 166lbs).

    The standard person in medicine is male and he weighs 70 kg. Can't recall his height, but it isn't tall by any means. Standards are just that, averages of huge numbers in this case, and people need to realise this.

    In my country, I'm taller than the average male, but in some other European countries shorter than that. These local differences have nothing to do with the medical standard person.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!

    I don't think that 2000 is for the average person. I think it's just a nice round number they picked to measure calorie percentages by that is sort of reasonable.
  • diegops1
    diegops1 Posts: 154 Member
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    I pay very very little attention to BMR, TDEE, BMR and the rest of the calculator output. They don't work for me. Supposedly my BMR is 1883 and my TDEE is 2260. I will maintain on 1600, gain on 1883 and gain big time on 2260. I have to eat 1200 and burn an extra 350 to 400 a day in walking at noon that I don't eat back to lose 1.5 lbs per week over an extended period. I tell the computer that my goal is to lose 2 lbs per week just to get my calories where I need them. This is not Lake Woebegone and half of us are below average.
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
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    amyrebeccah wrote: »
    Katerina9408 wrote: »
    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!
    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans.
    giphy.gif
    Mmm OK :D Continue to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, spend 2 h in the gym and tell yourself that you are doing good job (y)
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
    edited February 2015
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    AglaeaC wrote: »
    Lrdoflamancha wrote: »
    It depends what you eat. Carbs burn faster then fat so try to concentrate on simple carbs like fruits and veggies for protein : you can make chickpease, lentils,beans

    I must ask are you a troll or do you believe this?

    Could you please quote correctly. Now it seems like you posted the nonsense.

    It is not nonsence research for yourself :*
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
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    Ok people this is my opinion do whatever you wish.But if you haven't pay at least 5 min to research for this don't say that it is "nonsence". B
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    cyberblonde wrote: »
    I know I am most of the day inactive as I have a desk job, but i exercise 3 to 4 times a week which I will be adding to the 1650 cals I have been given.

    Just seems cray to me that we are alway told that 2000 cals a day are the amount an average person should eat per day. I would put on weight at that level.

    Maybe the average person runs 5km per day too?!

    This is average so you could be above or below but more importantly the average number for maintenance I think. Your number is for weightloss so of course it's going to be lower

  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Katerina9408 wrote: »
    Ok people this is my opinion do whatever you wish.But if you haven't pay at least 5 min to research for this don't say that it is "nonsence". B

    Could you show us some of this research? You are kind of confusing since you say "Look at the research" but then you say "it's my opinion". Which one is it? Either there is research that proves something or there isn't and you can have an opinion.

    Remember, you can debate opinions but you can't debate facts (Although plenty try on these boards as you are showing).

    Also, in the scientific world, if you make the claim, you need to back it up.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Katerina9408 wrote: »
    Ok people this is my opinion do whatever you wish.But if you haven't pay at least 5 min to research for this don't say that it is "nonsence". B

    What makes you think the people in this thread haven't done any research on the topic?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    NHS gives the 2000 calories average (TDEE) for a woman and 2500 for a man but there's going to be huge variations due to size, activity and exercise.

    nhs.uk/chq/pages/1126.aspx?categoryid=51

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