Do calories change on your birthday?
Armywife04_21
Posts: 60 Member
Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
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Replies
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No. Older people often require fewer calories because they are less active and do nothing to retain muscle. But the clock striking twelve on your birthday doesn't mean you need to lower calories. If you maintain your current activity level you can keep your calories.
Happy birthday by the way!7 -
At my goal weight, I would have been given 12 calories less per/day at maintenance at age 29 as compared to 28. A female with the same numbers would be given 9 calories less.4
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What a crappy birthday gift21
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There will be a couple hundred difference between calories needed for a lightly active 18 year old vs a lightly active 80 year old but not much difference at all between 28 years and 29 years.
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Thanks guys lol. I just know that when you get older your calories decrease even slightly. When you go on any calculator this is why they ask your age, so I was wondering if MFP did the same once you are older. Kind of funny in a messed up way lol0
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Armywife04_21 wrote: »Thanks guys lol. I just know that when you get older your calories decrease even slightly. When you go on any calculator this is why they ask your age, so I was wondering if MFP did the same once you are older. Kind of funny in a messed up way lol
It's because calculators average calories based on population data. Most people become progressively more sedentary as they age. If you stay active you can eat above average as you age.2 -
Yes, sort of. The calculation is 6.8 calories less per day for each year of age for a male, 4.7 less for a female. However, your body won't age one year in two days, so what is working today will probably work next week too.0
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My calories go up.4
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Playing around with a calculator, my upcoming 58->59 birthday costs me 6 calories. 3 or 4 raisins...
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I thought this was going to be a joke question about eating on your birthday. To the joke question - yes, on your birthday, nothing has calories. It's a special gift.13
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Info deemed reliable but not guaranteed...I vaguely remember when my birthday rolled around from 59 to 60, mfp knocked away 10 or so calories. It wasn't much. I would say this may have occurred because I reached a new decade but don't really know. I know it has not occurred with the last 3 age changes to 61, 62, 63 but am guessing that may be because I had overridden the default calories provided by MFP and was not following the "Guided Setup" or I'd not changed decades in age. Dunno really.
I have, in the past, played around with MFP and if I enter age 20 with my other stats then enter age 60 with the same other stats, I get fewer calories at age 60 than at age 20. Same as happens on other calculators. I just went to sailrabbit as an example and while keeping all other stats consistent, I changed my age from 20 to 60. BMR went from 1442 to 1292. TDEE went from 1775 to 1550. About 140-150 calories over 40 years.
I believe from my personal experience, weight gain had a great deal to do with less activity. I previously walked 18 or 27 holes of golf while carrying my clubs. Then I got a lighter golf bag. Then I got a bag with a "stand" and didn't have to bend down and lift my bag. Then I got a pull cart. Then I started riding in a cart. Yep...less activity.4 -
... as you age you will find that each birthday gives you a new "present"... some years it might be a new crease or wrinkle; other times your hair may suddenly do weird stuff; a new joint will ache... just plan accordingly... Happy Birthday, BTW
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My apologies, in my previous post I only mentioned the BMR calculation. The "lifestyle" setting would multiply that by 1.2 for sedentary. So 8.2 Kcal for a male, 5.6 for a female.1
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WhereIsPJSoles wrote: »What a crappy birthday gift
That and health insurance premiums. Hurrah.2 -
Happy birthday!!1
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Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
Yes there are differences in your body as the years go by, but 29 is NOT old by any means. You have a long way to go before you start slowing down.1 -
Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
Lol...no
As you age, there is a slight decline in BMR...but this is over decades, not the clock striking midnight on your birthday. Activity level is a much bigger factor in calorie requirements going down as we age. When I was 23 I could eat all of the food and drink all of the beer and it never made a dent in my weight because I worked landscape construction in the summer and waited tables or retail in the winter and I didn't own a car and walked and biked everywhere...now at 43 I can no longer do that because I have a desk job and even though I exercise regularly, I spend much of my day on my rear...
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.
That's 130 kCal PER DAY! Or 47,450 kcal per year, 13.5 pounds of fat.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Thanks guys lol. I just know that when you get older your calories decrease even slightly. When you go on any calculator this is why they ask your age, so I was wondering if MFP did the same once you are older. Kind of funny in a messed up way lol
It's because calculators average calories based on population data. Most people become progressively more sedentary as they age. If you stay active you can eat above average as you age.
Yes.
Population averages.
Population averages.
All calculators rely on population averages.
Sailrabbit - just to pick a popular calculator arbitrarily - says 20-year-old sedentary me could expect a TDEE of 1633, and 62-year-old sedentary me (current age) can expect 1381. Yikes, huh?
But actual me has an experientially-determined pre-exercise (NEAT) calorie requirement for maintenance in the 2100-2300 range, for a lifestyle that's sedentary outside of intentional exercise.
Population stats, as delivered by NEAT/TDEE calculators, are good for giving us a starting point when we begin to experientially determine our calorie needs.
Using population stats for any other n = 1 inferences? You're on shaky ground.
Stay strong, keep moving. Right now, your calorie needs 2 days after your birthday will be as different from 2 days before your birthday as you've experienced in any other recent +2/-2 day comparison.
29? Heh.
Happy birthday . . . and may you have many, many more happy birthdays to come!
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.
That's 130 kCal PER DAY! Or 47,450 kcal per year, 13.5 pounds of fat.
That's how "bracket creep" happens ... ask me how I know 1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.
That's 130 kCal PER DAY! Or 47,450 kcal per year, 13.5 pounds of fat.
And?
If you're monitoring your weight, it isn't an issue. Also, you can make up for it with activity. I'm 43 and active and eat around 3,000 calories per day. I think I'll be ok...
It's also over the course of 20 years...like 6.5 calories less per year...People obsess like mo-fos...
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Thank you so much guys and for those birthday wishes as well! A lot of great information here and that is why MFP is great, you learn something new everyday!1
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Yes, if you eat cake.0
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sunfastrose wrote: »I thought this was going to be a joke question about eating on your birthday. To the joke question - yes, on your birthday, nothing has calories. It's a special gift.
I think we might be related. That was my take on this, even down to your reply to the "joke question."
Happy Birthday, ArmyWife! By the way, my birthday is in 2 days as well. I'm not saying how old I will be, but I can assure you I will be taking advantage of that special gift from the calorie gods.2 -
Birthdays are good for you! People who live longer have more of them. It is scientifically proven!!!5
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cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.
That's 130 kCal PER DAY! Or 47,450 kcal per year, 13.5 pounds of fat.
And?
And you act like 130 kCal per day is trivial, it isn't. Of course you can monitor your weight and adjust accordingly, that's what pretty much everyone on this site is trying to do. But those adjustments will include accounting for the 130 fewer calories per day spent on metabolism.
As far as your personal TDEE being 3000 kCal at 43, so what, I'm 48 and my maintenance is 3400.4 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Armywife04_21 wrote: »Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.
That's 130 kCal PER DAY! Or 47,450 kcal per year, 13.5 pounds of fat.
And?
And you act like 130 kCal per day is trivial, it isn't. Of course you can monitor your weight and adjust accordingly, that's what pretty much everyone on this site is trying to do. But those adjustments will include accounting for the 130 fewer calories per day spent on metabolism.
As far as your personal TDEE being 3000 kCal at 43, so what, I'm 48 and my maintenance is 3400.
130 per day doesn't seem trivial to me either.1
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