Question about daily Kcal intake requirements

LennyOO · August 2015

Hello guys!

I'm currently starting on my journey to a healthier diet (and life in general) and I'm very curious about something.

On most food packages, it is said that 2,000-2,500 kcal a day is what you generally need, but MyFitnessPal computed this to be just shy of 3,000 (2,988) for me, without any exercise. This seems like a huge amount, and I never seem to get to that unless I really start eating a lot of snacks during the day (which I don't, so far).

Still, I weigh 110KG (at 1.88M). If I stay under the 2,500 radar, does it mean I'll simply start losing weight right away? Or could it be that my metabolism became really slow and that in reality, I burn far less than 3,000 Kcal?

Thanks a lot. Please share your experiences!

Cheers!

janejellyroll · August 2015

The food package is based on an "average" human -- which many of us aren't. The number MFP gave you is based on your specific data -- age, sex, activity level, goals. If you have excess weight, chances are you were eating more than 3,000 at some point -- you would have had to if eating at 3,000 is truly a deficit for you.

When you say you never seem to get to 3,000, is that based on a history of logging (including using a food scale)? Or is it just your impression of what you eat? Many of us are terrible at estimating calories -- I know I am.

SimoneBee12 · August 2015

Are you sure you put all of your information into MFP correctly? When I looked, my numbers for your height and weight with no exercise were lower.

I can't see how old you are because I'm on my phone, so I did 30, and it said roughly 2500 to maintain your current weight, 2000 to lose 0.5kg a week and 1500 to lose 1kg a week.

I'd suggest eating 2500 for a month and seeing how much you lose. If you aren't losing anything drop it by 100 ever week or so. If you're losing, then stick to 2500

Definitely check your data here on MFP though, something seems off. You could maintain at 150kg eating 3000 a day.

LennyOO · August 2015

Thanks Jane!

I've only started logging three days ago:

2,411/3,251 (with exercise of 321kcal)
2,298/3,084 (with exercise of 154kcal)

I have to say that I try to be royal when counting calories. Sometimes it's unclear how much the food you eat weighs (and thus how many calories they represent), so royal estimates are safer. And when I started logging, I also started to abstain from snacking too much. I only started exercising recently as well, so it might well be my metabolism.

What I'm curious about is whether it's possible that even if an average person burns 3,000-something kcal each day, a person with low metabolism burns only 2,500 of that?

Thanks a lot!

LennyOO · August 2015

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Are you sure you put all of your information into MFP correctly? When I looked, my numbers for your height and weight with no exercise were lower.

I always walk wherever I go, and I run thrice a week, so I figured my daily activity was "light" rather than absent

janejellyroll · August 2015

LennyOO wrote: »

Thanks Jane!

I've only started logging three days ago:
2,411/3,251 (with exercise of 321kcal)

2,298/3,084 (with exercise of 154kcal)

I have to say that I try to be royal when counting calories. Sometimes it's unclear how much the food you eat weighs (and thus how many calories they represent), so royal estimates are safer. And when I started logging, I also started to abstain from snacking too much. I only started exercising recently as well, so it might well be my metabolism.

What I'm curious about is whether it's possible that even if an average person burns 3,000-something kcal each day, a person with low metabolism burns only 2,500 of that?

Thanks a lot!

It's certainly possible that one person could burn 3,000 each day and another could burn 2,500 based on their size, age, sex, and activity level. But even MFP's suggested goal is based on aggregated data and the best way to find out if it is accurate is to use it for a few weeks. I will say that I followed MFP's goal for almost the entire time that I was losing weight and I lost weight consistently (and I'm now maintaining on MFP's suggested calorie goal). If you eat around 3,000 calories and don't lose weight, you can customize your goal so that it is lower.

So if you've double-checked the data you have entered into MFP and it's accurate, I think you're safe to start with the goal that they give you.

LennyOO · August 2015

LennyOO wrote: »

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Are you sure you put all of your information into MFP correctly? When I looked, my numbers for your height and weight with no exercise were lower.

I always walk wherever I go, and I run thrice a week, so I figured my daily activity was "light" rather than absent

Ahh, my activity settings were too high. I put them down a level, now it's 2,500 kcal a day. Bummer

Thanks a lot.

janejellyroll · August 2015

LennyOO wrote: »

LennyOO wrote: »

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Are you sure you put all of your information into MFP correctly? When I looked, my numbers for your height and weight with no exercise were lower.

I always walk wherever I go, and I run thrice a week, so I figured my daily activity was "light" rather than absent

Ahh, my activity settings were too high. I put them down a level, now it's 2,500 kcal a day. Bummer

Thanks a lot.

I'm glad you figured it out! Good luck.

SimoneBee12 · August 2015

Okay so then it would add about 400-500 calories a day. So maintain on 3000, lose 0.5kg on 2500 and lose 1kg on 2000. Roughly. That's at 30 years old. If you're younger it will be slightly higher.

Something is still off, however. Maybe I'm inputting your data wrong, go to this website and enter all your stats and see what it says.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

ETA:

LennyOO wrote: »

LennyOO wrote: »

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Are you sure you put all of your information into MFP correctly? When I looked, my numbers for your height and weight with no exercise were lower.

I always walk wherever I go, and I run thrice a week, so I figured my daily activity was "light" rather than absent

Ahh, my activity settings were too high. I put them down a level, now it's 2,500 kcal a day. Bummer

Thanks a lot.

It's not a bummer! Imagine if you hadn't of figured it out until a month from now! Good luck!

LennyOO · August 2015

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Something is still off, however. Maybe I'm inputting your data wrong, go to this website and enter all your stats and see what it says.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I did it. Based on 1/3hr weekly activity (mostly running and walking), it says;

BMR=2,370 (whatever this means?)
TDEE = 3,259
Daily calories based on goal = 2,607.

Funny thing is that skipping an evening snack already keeps me below 2,500 most of the time.

I'll see how it goes I guess

nordlead2005 · August 2015

LennyOO wrote: »

SimoneBee12 wrote: »

Something is still off, however. Maybe I'm inputting your data wrong, go to this website and enter all your stats and see what it says.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I did it. Based on 1/3hr weekly activity (mostly running and walking), it says;

BMR=2,370 (whatever this means?)
TDEE = 3,259
Daily calories based on goal = 2,607.

Funny thing is that skipping an evening snack already keeps me below 2,500 most of the time.

I'll see how it goes I guess

BMR = basal metabolic rate, or the amount of calories you burn if you spent an entire 24-hr period just sleeping.
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or the amount of calories you burn in an average 24-hr period.

As for activity level, if you set the activity level to calculate calorie goals based on certain things you do (like running), then you can't log that as exercise or you are double counting the activity.

I walk to the grocery store and walk between buildings at work. But because I don't do them every day and I have a desk job, I have it set as sedentary and just log walks between buildings or to the grocery store as exercise.

Question about daily Kcal intake requirements

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