The U.S. Department of Agriculture has researched the daily nutrient needs for men, women and children and recommends daily amounts, based on your age. In addition to daily recommendations for calories and fat, the USDA's free, "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" publication, available at the USDA website, provides the RDAs for all of the other nutrients you need for good health.
Types of Fats
Fats come from saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fat sources. Health experts recommend reducing the amount of saturated and trans fats you eat and looking for sources of healthier fats. You can find healthy fats in foods like olive oil, nuts, vegetables and fish.
Amounts of Fat by RDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that most commercial foods contain nutrition labels that provide the USDA recommended daily amounts of certain nutrients. The labels provide recommendations based on 2,000- and 2,500-calorie diets, for consistency purposes. The USDA recommends you eat no more than 65 g or 80 g of total fat, based on whether you are eating 2,000 or 2,500 calories, with no more than 20 g or 25 g of fat coming from saturated sources, depending on your calorie number.
Amounts of Fat by Age
The USDA recommends that infants should eat no more than 31 percent of their calories from fat per day, while children age one to three years should limit total fat intake to 30 to 40 percent of total daily calories. Boys and girls age four to 18 should eat no more than 25 to 35 percent of their total daily calories from fat, with males and females 19 and older eating no more than 20 to 35 percent of daily calories from fat.
Daily Calorie Ranges
The USDA provides calorie ranges for individuals based on your gender, age and activity level. To learn where you fall on the activity level scale, consider your daily routine. If you do no physical activity other than typical day-to-day activities, you are at the low end, or sedentary level of the activity scale. If you perform activities such as exercise or physical labor, comparable to walking three miles per day at a pace of three to four miles per hour, you are at the high end of the activity scale.
Daily Calorie Numbers by Age
According to the USDA, children two to three years old should eat 1,000 to 4,000 calories. Girls four to eight years should eat 1,200 to 1,800 calories, while boys that age need 1,400 to 2,000 calories. Girls and boys nine to 13 should eat 1,600 to 2,000 and 1,800 to 2,600 calories, respectively. Girls 14 to 19 need 1,800 to 2,400 calories, while boys that age should eat 2,200 to 3,200 calories. Males and females age 19 to 30 should eat 2,400 to 3,000 calories, and 2,000 to 2,400 calories, respectively. Males age 31 to 50 should eat 2,200 to 3,000 calories, with females that age needing 1,800 to 2,200 calories. Senior men should eat 2,000 to 2,800 calories, with senior women needing 1,600 to 2,200 calories.
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