Thursday 7 July 2016

Calorie intake calculators

A very important thing to know is that you CANT always listen to reccommended daily intakes. They are usually not accurate and often underestimate how much energy your body needs. For the point of this exercise I put my details into various calculators which all returned very different results.



 FYI 10272 kilojoules = 2455 calories



As you can see some of the calculators stated I only need to eat about 1900 to maintain my weight. However I have lost weight eating that amount in the past which means it is obviously not enough for me. In saying that, I usually dont eat as much as 2500 calories each day either which is what another calculator suggested.

The point I am trying to make is that everybody is different and no calculator can accurately tell you exactly how many calories you need each day. Also, your body will not use the exact same number of calories each day. Some days you will need more or less energy, which is when listening to your body really becomes important.

If a doctor or dietician tells you how much you should be eating then I highly reccommend that you follow there advice. Ideally you wont count calories at all but if like me you do, please dont listen to these types of online calculators as they really aren't accurate.

You may find that you need to experiment for a while to see how much food your body truly needs by looking at your patterns of weight loss/maintenence/gain and also your energy levels and hunger. :)

3 comments:

  1. So true! Thank you for this - I think it's important information to get out there.

    Those calculators are only a rough (and I mean VERY rough) guideline. Professional advice is always the best way to go, and even then, sometimes it takes a little trial and error to figure out what really works for you.

    xx

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    Replies
    1. It sure is Bella! :) I dont think the companies who create these guidelines realise just how damaging they can potentially be to some people. Xxx

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    2. It sure is Bella! :) I dont think the companies who create these guidelines realise just how damaging they can potentially be to some people. Xxx

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