Your Calorie Needs

[imoldernu]

This has surely been discussed hundreds of times, but after a very involved (heated) discussion with my DW, I finally found a web page about Weight and Calories, that doesn't feel like a lecture, or gives me a guilt complex.

So here it is... a super simple calculator that tells you how many calories you can eat to keep your current weight.

Adult Energy Needs and BMI Calculator - USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center - Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

I already feel MUCH better.

YMMV

 

[ocdokie]

Well, it says my BMI is 17 and I need to eat 1910 calories a day to maintain my current weight. Woohoo! I get to eat TWO of those 900-calorie greasy burgers mentioned in the article, and it even leaves me 110 calories for some fries.

 

[tmm99]

Well, it says my BMI is 17 and I need to eat 1910 calories a day to maintain my current weight. Woohoo! I get to eat TWO of those 900-calorie greasy burgers mentioned in the article, and it even leaves me 110 calories for some fries.

I am not sure what values you entered, but my BMI is 21 and I can eat 2494 calories!! (If I was male, I could eat 2811 calories). Even 2494 seems like tons of calories. Evidently, putting "more than 1 hour/day" exercise changes the caloric intake from 1917(rarely) to 1917(less than 1 hour/day) to 2494(more than 1 hr/day)

 

[donheff]

Mine is 21.9 and I get 3233 calories.

 

[bo_knows]

I know that this group loves to tinker with numbers (hello to all the retirement calculators out there), but BMI is a terrible indicator for an individual. It was originally developed as a measure for entire populations.


Body mass index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The only real way to get your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR, the amount of calories you burn each day) is to use one of the machines that has a mask and directly measures your metabolism: Metabolic Testing in Barrhaven and Ottawa Area

Either way, it's funny to see that I supposedly can eat 2800 calories.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I am sure that the number of calories an individual can eat and not gain weight varies considerably.
If I eat excess calories I can feel my muscles warm up until some magical set point is reached then returns to normal. My adult weight has been within 5lbs of my current weight without ever counting calories. Almost all while eating a high carbohydrate diet.

 

[CoolChange]

I am not sure I would put too much faith in the estimates from this site. It puts my energy needs at 2,957 calories / day. But....I track my caloric intake much more closely than most people; my real weight maintenance requirements are currently between 1,700 and 1,750 calories / day.

 

[Chuckanut]

It also depends what those calories are packaged in. Put them into an easily digested Cinnamon bun and most will go to energy or be stored as fat. Put them into raw almonds, and 20% will never be processed by the body due to the fiber in the almonds.

 

[braumeister]

Does anyone really count calories any more?

 

[Mulligan]

Does anyone really count calories any more?

I haven't but it is becoming increasingly clear to me the older I get the less calories I need despite living an active life. My appetite however is not in alignment with my bodies determination that I need less food than I used to.

 

[timeasterday]

Does anyone really count calories any more?

I do. I run, I bike, and I do strength training in the gym. I burn a lot of calories but I am not trying to lose weight. So I need an accurate count of what I am eating to avoid dropping any weight, and I need to know my macros (fat/carbs/protein) to target muscle gain & fat loss. I only track weekdays which is easy because I eat the same thing on those days. I don't track weekends because that's my time to eat & drink whatever I want.

 

[haha]

The idea that some algorithm or chart can do a better job of estimating one's need than his appetite is very odd to me. Look at the animal kingdom, the only fat animals are having their metabolism messed with by humans. I think people in a more natural state would be the same. It is clear to me that in my case, if I do more, I eat more, and if I do less I eat less without trying. If you eat candy or something that stimulates appetite, or sit in a chair all day this mechanism will not longer work, but it is because you have screwed it up.

Ha

 

[F4mandolin]

I'm another person who thinks BMI is a crazy way to measure whether you are fat or not. Don't know why people keeping using it.

 

[donheff]

I weighed in with my score on this test but I have to say, the only time I count calories is when I t ake some dumb test like this. Like Ha, I find the idea that we should somehow try to set our daily intake by measuring what we eat to be exceedingly wrong headed. We have millions of years of evolution behind us to insure that our appetite will tell us when we have eaten enough provided we eat the right food. But doing the later is not an easy thing in a world of processed pseudo-foods.

 

[imoldernu]

While poking around the "calorie" subject, this apology popped up:
An Open Apology to All of My Weight Loss Clients | Iris Higgins

A health consultant's expiation for years of advising girls and women to live on a 1200 calorie per day for good health.

First paragraph of a long apology...

Dear Former Weight Loss Clients (you know who you are):

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry because I put you on a 1,200 calorie diet and told you that was healthy. I'm sorry because when you were running 5x a week, I encouraged you to switch from a 1,200 calorie diet to a 1,500 calorie diet, instead of telling you that you should be eating a hell of a lot more than that. I'm sorry because you were breastfeeding and there's no way eating those 1,700 calories a day could have been enough for both you and your baby. I'm sorry because you were gluten intolerant and so desperate to lose weight that you didn't put that on your intake form. But you mentioned it to me later, and I had no idea the damage you were doing to your body. I'm sorry because I think I should have known. I think I should have been educated better before I began to tell all of you what was right or wrong for your body.

...and it goes on from there to detail many more negatives resulting from over emphasizing the trend toward gaining the Barbie Doll figure.

That said, on a personal basis... two months ago, I had a sudden urge for fresh raw vegetables (augmented by onion dip). This went on for about a week, with the lunch and dinner meals. No real intent to lose weight or to improve health... just a LBYM with fresh veggies from Aldi's. I have been at the same (a bit too heavy) weight since 1985. At the end of 10 days, I stepped on the scale, and found I had lost 14 pounds. Since then, I have been back to normal meals, but strangely, have not added a single pound.

On the other hand, it could be some kind of wasting disease.

 

[Chuckanut]

I found this discussion of BMI calculations to be reasonably clear:

Advanced bmi calculator of Body Mass Index

 

[Chuckanut]

The idea that some algorithm or chart can do a better job of estimating one's need than his appetite is very odd to me. Look at the animal kingdom, the only fat animals are having their metabolism messed with by humans. I think people in a more natural state would be the same. It is clear to me that in my case, if I do more, I eat more, and if I do less I eat less without trying. If you eat candy or something that stimulates appetite, or sit in a chair all day this mechanism will not longer work, but it is because you have screwed it up.

Ha

+1

 

[Chuckanut]

two months ago, I had a sudden urge for fresh raw vegetables (augmented by onion dip). This went on for about a week, with the lunch and dinner meals. No real intent to lose weight or to improve health... just a LBYM with fresh veggies from Aldi's. I have been at the same (a bit too heavy) weight since 1985. At the end of 10 days, I stepped on the scale, and found I had lost 14 pounds. Since then, I have been back to normal meals, but strangely, have not added a single pound.

Imoldernu, you are another of these dangerous radicals who posts on this site.

Calories and exercise are the only way to lose weight and be fit. Hire some sexy young (no more than 35) thing to be your loud mouthed trainer. If you are a woman hire a hunk, men should hire a sex-object. Go on a semi-starvation diet eating food that makes you feel grumpy, hungry and not quite right.

Instruct the trainer to scream and yell at you, hurl insults and beat you down both mentally and physically. The more you are beaten down the more you will be built up. This should be obvious, and if it isn't there is something seriously wrong with you. After months of semi starvation and grueling, agonizing exercise while being abused by your trainer you should have lost weight. If you did not lose weight you must have cheated, you are a sloth and glutton.

See how simple it is?

Or you could try the alternative - JERF - Just Eat Real Food.