How Many Calories Should You Eat?

I am asked all the time “how many calories should I be consuming” and I hate it because it is the one topic that is impossible to simplify.  It is a deceptively easy answer that is so very, very hard to comply with: Eat as many calories as you need to maintain the weight that you want to be.  You and you alone are your very own test tube.  Ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I the weight I want to be?
2. Do I know how many calories I currently eat
3. How much effort am I willing to put in to counting calories?

It is only through tracking this information that you can find out how many calories are right for you. These are the considerations:

1. Your genetic makeup is key and your metabolism will be different from someone else who is of equal height and weight.
2. Your height and weight matter and so does your build.  What’s your build? Wrap your thumb and forefinger around your wrist on the other hand.  If they touch easily, you are a small build, “barely touch” is medium and “can’t touch” is large frame or “big boned”.  Do yourself a favor and stop telling yourself you are “big boned” if you aren’t. On the other end, start accepting that you are meant to be larger if you truly are. Acknowledging the truth will go a long way toward your self esteem and expectations.
3. Track your food intake and measure every single morsel eaten or drunk for one full day during the week and one on the weekend.  Average them. Now you know what you consume. There are all kinds of tools that will help you do this. I like a combo of www.tweetwhatyoueat.com to keep track during the day and then inputting into the USDA’s food tracker at http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/
4. Track your physical activity.  Using the USDA’s food tracker for assessing activity level is time consuming but thorough. Most of your days will be similar and many non-traditional sources of activity are preloaded.  Studies show that we burn more of our day’s calories doing daily chores like carrying laundry up stairs and walking to the bus uphill than during our actual gym time.  It all counts, so count it.

The nice thing about the tracking is that you will only have to do it once to get a read on whether or not you are eating more calories than you are burning or vice versa. You will have to cut back on intake and increase activity until you are where you want to be. Then you go back to using the scale as your guide.  Up a pound or two? Whoops! Cut back on food and ramp up exercise until you drop them, it should only take a week or two.  Ignore this crucial piece of information and join the ranks of folks with obesity related health issues before you know it.

Theresa Albert

I love food, try to watch my weight, know more than I want to about healthy living (sometimes I wish I knew less so I wouldn’t feel so guilty when I stumble), am a daughter, sister, friend, mom and wife who worries and scurries the meals onto the table. It is for all these reasons that I completed my nutrition, RNCP designation, wrote my book, hosted my Food Network show, consult with food companies to urge them to get it right (or at least better), constantly write about it, research it, all of this so I can cut through the nutrition and food “news” clutter. Happy to share with friends!