How many calories do I need?

When people find out I am a registered dietitian with degrees in nutrition, they often ask “How many calories do I need?” I used to struggle for an answer. “It depends” seems evasive. A generic response such as “between 1600 and 2400 calories for women, 2000 to 3000 for men” is well, generic, and probably not helpful. Now, after I dealt with demons of burnout and exhaustion and bewildering health problems myself, I’m more likely to answer “Why do you ask?”

I think the answer to that question is important. Why do you want to attach to an absolute number for a diet, a cleanse, or a twenty-five or thirty or fifteen-day challenge? Did having a number to shoot for work well in the past? For how long did it work? What happened after you stopped working toward that number? The reality is that most of us give up on rigid, restrictive regimes, even if we adopt them with the best of intentions and the firmest of goals.

My personal opinions is that diets don’t work. What works is changing your environment and building daily habits that make the healthy, wholesome choice the easiest one. Any other approach is likely a short term strategy that just adds stress to your already busy life. You may get results for a while. They probably won’t last.

How Many Calories Do You Need? 

[This may not be the best question.]

I can’t advise how many calories you need without doing a personalized assessment of your medical history, physical activity, and lifestyle and goals. However I can tell you about simple steps likely to improve your health, increase your sense of wellbeing, and even help you enjoy life more. How does that sound? Do you want that? Effective healthy habits include things like:

• Drink more water and unsweetened tea and coffee, and less sweet and artificially sweetened beverages.
• Eat five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Consume them in a natural, unprocessed form, either whole or cooked simply, not fried or as juices or blended beverages.

• Sleep for seven or eight hours every night.
• Move your body in physical activity three to five times a week. Aim for the goal of 150 minutes of exercise a week, but if you’re just starting out, ten minutes a day is awesome. It is never too late to start. During a fourteen-year study, adults who didn’t start exercising until middle age were thirty-five percent less likely to die than those who remained inactive. http://bit.ly/2XMHLkB
• Eat fewer processed packaged foods, sugary sweet desserts and snacks.
• Eat more nuts, beans, and dark green and deep orange leafy vegetables.
• Stop smoking.
• Deepen your connections with other people, and join groups where you share a meaningful purpose.

Burnout Recovery

These are simple suggestions. I expect you have already heard them. The roadblock is probably not knowing what to do. The challenge is figuring out how to do it consistently. That’s the focus of my work! https://deborahrankinrd.com It’s what I learned as I recovered from gut-wrenching grief, the depression of unemployment, chronic vertigo, and high blood pressure. Small changes I practiced every day and week until they became so routine I no longer thought about them. They reduced my brain fog and speeded burnout recovery.

Exceptions

Now that I’ve confessed that I don’t like the question “How many calories do I need?”,  there are exceptions. Here are a few I’ve encountered:

• If you have been diagnosed with diabetes and require insulin or other medications to keep your blood sugar stable, a specific calorie intake and consistent meal pattern can be helpful. Even so, consult with your dietitian, nurse, or physician to learn how to adjust for variations in your activity.
• If you are an endurance athlete with training or events that last longer than ninety minutes a day, specific calorie and carbohydrate intake can help fuel your workouts and support your body’s needs.
• If you have an infant or young child diagnosed with failure to thrive, a certain calorie intake is often prescribed to make sure there’s enough nutrition for their growth and weight gain.
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women find it helpful to know how much they need to eat to nurture the growth of their baby and produce adequate milk.

Exercise for Stress Relief

Your reason for a new behavior matters. If your motivation is something outside yourself, for example to lose a certain number of pounds so another person finds you attractive, your chance of lasting success can be low. While those external motivations may motivate for a while, they also add stress. That is not good for your health.

Exercise because it releases stress and makes you feel calm and relaxed. Instead of worrying about “How many calories do I need?”, eat whole grains, nuts, unprocessed fruits and vegetables because you have fewer headaches, feel calmer, or have more consistent energy through the day. These are internal motivations.

I love bicycling even though I don’t ride fast, nor cover many miles. It is fun, and reminds me of childhood play. I always feel great afterward!

Green Veggies

For many years I loved sweets—cake, cookies, and candy. I ate them everyday, and did not think I could give them up. When I got chronic vertigo I noticed that the “high” I got after eating sweets was followed by a slump in energy and mood. That made my dizziness worse. When my dizziness got bad, I was more likely to end up in the bathroom with my head in the toilet, throwing up. Talk about internal motivation! Suddenly I found it easy to stop eating sweets and add more green veggies, nuts, and whole grains to my meals.

What About Healthy Meal Plans?

Wouldn’t it help to have a general guide of what to eat? You know…menus, recipes, that sort of thing? OK, maybe. I’m thinking about that. If you’d like to give me your opinion about meal plans, maybe even what type you’d be interested in, I’d love to hear your ideas. Click this link and tell me what you think in this survey:

https://stressrelief.deborahrankinrd.com/mealplansurvey

What’s Your Why?

Let go of the stress of trying to be healthy because you feel pressure to hit a number on a scale, or in a laboratory report. Instead of obsessing over “How many calories do I need?,” tap into how you feel. You’ll find it much easier to make meaningful change. I’ve made a guide to help you drill down to your inner motivations. It’s called “What’s Your Why?” You can get it by signing up here.