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How many calories should I be consuming in a day?

I am 17 years old, 5’2 and 115 pounds. How many calories should I be eating a day?

Also I am just curious, do things such as raw fruits and veggies count for calories or can you eat as many of them in a day as you want?

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5 Responses to “How many calories should I be consuming in a day?”

  1. Answerfinder1360 said :

    about 2000

  2. rucrazy5150 said :

    This may help.. It really depends on how active you are.

    How Many Calories Does Your Body Need?
    by: Vicki R. Pierson, Certified Personal Trainer

    Most of us understand that weight management depends upon the energy balance equation; the amount of energy you put into your body (food calories) versus the amount of energy you expend (activity). But how do you know how many calories your body needs to reach or maintain a certain weight?

    Understanding your body’s energy requirements can help guide you when making nutritional choices. We’ll show you two ways to determine your energy requirements, the accurate way and the easy way.

    The Accurate Way
    There are three primary components that make up your body’s energy expenditure. Adding these three components together, basal metabolic rate, energy expended during physical activity, and the thermic effect of food is the most accurate way of determining how many calories your body requires each day.

    Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Most of the body’s energy, about 60-70%, goes to supporting the ongoing metabolic work of the body’s cells. This includes such activities as heart beat, respiration and maintaining body temperature. To determine your BMR:

    For adult males – Multiply the body weight by 10; add double the body weight to this value.
    [i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150)=1,800 cal/day BMR]

    For adult females – Multiply body weight by 10; add the body weight to this value.
    [i.e., for a 120 lb female, 1,200 + 120=1,320 cal/day BMR]

    Energy Expended During Physical Activity: The second component of the equation depends upon your level of physical activity. Physical activity has a profound effect on human energy expenditure and contributes 20-30% to the body’s total energy output. One of the most reliable methods in calculating calories burned during physical activity is the Metabolic Energy (MET) Method. This is the method we have used for the Fitness Partner Connection’s Activity Calculator for 158 different activities.

    Thermic Effect of Food: The last component to calculate has to do with your body’s management of food. The increase in energy required to digest food is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF) and it’s simple to determine:

    TEF = total kcals consumed x 10%
    [i.e., 2,000 kcals consumed/day x 0.10 = 200 kcals expended for TEF]

    The Easy Way
    If all of those calculations seem too confusing or tedious, you can roughly estimate your daily calorie requirements using this simple formula:

    For sedentary people: Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day

    For moderately active people: Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day

    For active people: Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

    Note: Moderately Active is defined as 3-4 aerobic sessions per week. Active is defined as 5-7 aerobic sessions per week.

    Sources:
    Ruth Lahmayer MS, RD, “How Low Should Calories Go?”, IDEA Today, September 1989
    American Council on Exercise, Personal Trainer Manual: The Resource For Fitness Instructors, (Boston, MA: Reebok University Press, 1991)

    Joanne Larson at Ask the Dietician provides a Healthy Body Calculator for a complete weight and calorie profile. (This link will open a new browser.)

    Back to
    Managing Your Weight

    © 1995-2005 The Fitness Jumpsite ™
    All rights reserved

  3. Vikki said :

    Everything you eat has calories and you can’t go by your age, height, and weight. You need calories to get through the day. If you work out a lot and do a lot of physically demanding stuff then you need to consume a lot of calories in comparison to someone who does minimal activity throughout the day.
    Go to a nutritionist if you are so worried about this, they can give professional help.

  4. Col. Kurtz said :

    Your caloric need is largely going to be determined by your activity level. If you are 17, you probably have a higher metabolism rate (cuz you’re still young!), and also, if you’re in school, you are probably doing Phys Ed stuff, or maybe you’re on the swimming or basketball team. If you’re doing lots of physical activities, you might need 2500 calories a day, depending.

    As far as raw fruits and vegetables counting as calories, yes, they have natural sugars in them which have caloric value. You should certainly eat them, but you should include them in your total calorie count for the day (of course, things like apples and carrots and what have you don’t have a huge amount of calories, so you can probably eat a fair amount of them each day. They’re good for getting your daily fiber, too.)

    Good night, and good luck. Col. Kurtz.

  5. Cherise Oreb said :

    Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My site discusses a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!




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