The 4000 calorie vs 2000 calorie argument...:)

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  • olivia_june
    olivia_june Posts: 111 Member
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    Just throwing it out there, I am 5'9" and 225 lbs, my maintain is about 2700, currently I'm on about 1320/day without exercise (meaning that obviously I can have more if I exercise, which I do, haha).

    My fiance is about 6'1" and 200-some and he is on 2200 cal/day and is still losing.

    I think it completely depends on the person, their activity level, and gender, but GENERALLY 2000 calories is correct. I would gain a ton of weight on 4000 cal, unless I started training for a marathon or something.
  • stubbysticks
    stubbysticks Posts: 1,275 Member
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    Michael Phelps eats 12,000 because he's high

    Did the same plan, minus the swimming.
    I think a lot of us did at one time in our lives. I'm not really sure, my memory is a little foggy.
    I have NEVER ate 4000 cal. in a day. The guy is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. Not even professional athletes should eat that kind of amount every day.
    Why on earth shouldn't they? I'm going to assume you are blissfully unaware of how many calories an elite athlete can burn in a day while training.

    I highly doubt you've never exceeded 4000 calories in a day. It's far more likely that back before you started tracking your intake & paying attention to the caloric content of stuff, you did & just weren't aware of it. I logged a >7,000 calorie day back in January, averaged 2k calories a day the following 6 days & was down 2 lbs by my next weighin. A couple of restaurant meals then a night at the bar can add up quick. Sure, if I averaged 4k calories a day I'd probably gain slowly, but even now that i'm trying to lose weight it's still easy to rack up the calories if I allow myself to.

    To the OP, if your friend is convinced that this fixed number is what everyone should go by, he is clearly NOT someone you should count on as an authority on fitness. Who cares what he believes, anyway?
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    I spent a long time eating 4000 calories. I had to come here to fix that.

    :laugh: same here!
  • Gary1977
    Gary1977 Posts: 804 Member
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    I would weigh 500 pounds if I ate that much. Plus, it would be very difficult for me to eat that much food!

    Eating like that is EXACTLY How I ended up over 600lbs:grumble:
  • Oo_BrookeNicole_oO
    Oo_BrookeNicole_oO Posts: 165
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    I would weigh 500 pounds if I ate that much. Plus, it would be very difficult for me to eat that much food!

    Eating like that is EXACTLY How I ended up over 600lbs:grumble:

    WHOA. As it appears, you've lost quite a bit of it too! Congratulations!!
  • Myles_D23
    Myles_D23 Posts: 51 Member
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    MFP recommends I eat around 2400 calories. AND... if I add my exercise I'll be at around 2800 calories. I could eat pretty much anything I wanted. I manually changed it to 1650. So far I'm averaging 2.6 lbs a week and I'm not starving myself either. Just eat back most of my workout calories. SO yes it depends on who you are and if you need it
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    Of course, there's no such thing as the "right" amount of calories, you're much closer to being right than he is.

    so you're saying she is a unique and beautiful snowflake??

    Bwahahaha!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    The only time I've seen 4000 + calorie diet is in professional athletes, I read somewhere on NBA website once about diets that some players burn up to 5 lbs in just one game, that's why they consume so many calories, I guess it depends on what they're doing. I'm pretty sure Michael Phelps eats like 12,000 a day!

    Michael Phelps eats 12,000 because he's high

    True. But he clearly works it all off!

    What I wonder is how he has time to eat that much???
  • Ali_TSO
    Ali_TSO Posts: 1,172 Member
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    I spent a long time eating 4000 calories. I had to come here to fix that.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :noway:
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    if he is 200 lbs plus and works out for 2 hours/day 4000 cals might be right.

    I am not a large guy so, for me to lose I need to eat around 2000 cals (1700-1800 Net), my maintenance cals are only 2100, if I don't workout and eat more than 2100, I would gain weight.
  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member
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    Are you sure they weren't confusing kcal with kj?
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    I gained weight on 1700 a day. 4000 seems crazy for anyone other that large male professional athletes. I would say 2000 for the average 5'10 male, 1800 for the average 5'5" female to maintain a healthy weight. More if doing a lot of exercise.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    If I ate 4000 calories a day, I'd gain about 2 pounds per week, and I already weigh 320 pounds. As an adult, you'd have to be a pretty dedicated athlete to need that many calories to maintain weight (unless you're trying to bulk up).

    Children are a different story, they need to eat more calories to sustain growth. I read somewhere that the average caloric requirement for boys aged 13-18 is 3000 per day (girls were 2200, as I recall), and I could see 4000 being reasonable for a student who was into sports throughout the year.
  • krash999
    krash999 Posts: 476 Member
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    I would weigh 500 pounds if I ate that much. Plus, it would be very difficult for me to eat that much food!

    Eating like that is EXACTLY How I ended up over 600lbs:grumble:

    i used to eat close to probly 4000 cals a day at my old job and during the summer when i was most active i actually lost weight.... but then i moved to a more sedentary job and kept eating that, withing 2 years i had gained like 80 pounds and tipped the scale at 535 lbs. so i came here to fix that.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    I think, in general, the shorter you are the less you can eat. I am only 5'1" and have to eat really low to lose weight (well not anymore since I don't need to lose weight anymore). But I still have to eat fairly low to maintain compared to the rest of society (IE if I ate 2000 calories I would gain weight for sure). We are all different and the bottom line if you are gaining weight as a trend you need to lower the calories. All these calorie estimates are just that, estimates. It is our job to use the ballpark number, monitor the scale as a trend tool, and adjust to what works. If you are losing over time then it works, if you are gaining well then lower the calories a bit and monitor until you fine what works.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    Yes it's true that everyone is different but your friend needs a reality check if he thinks 2000 calories is a starvation diet for most people. :wink:
  • digitech
    digitech Posts: 2 Member
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    Try using this with his details and see what you get :wink:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    2000 is considered for an athlete maintaining their weight. So yeah, 4000 is ridiculous. .....

    2000 would be woefully inadequate for an athlete which illustrates the problem with making generalizations.

    My TDEE (at moderately active) is 2,821 and I'm losing approx 1Lb per week at 2200 to 2300. There are skinny little triathletes at my club that will go through more than 4,000 cal per day when their training is peaking.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    Are you sure they weren't confusing kcal with kj?

    4000 kjoules is only 955 kcalories . . . which instead of being ridiculously high for an average adult is unhealthily low!
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    If you are eating 4000 calories a day, you better be doing 2-3 hours of exercise as well each day.

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