If you are trying to watch your calorie intake to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, you want to make the most of the calories you are allowed each day. However, to be successful at long-term weight management, it is important to allow for an occasional treat or indulgence, which some plans also refer to as discretionary calories. To help balance out your eating plan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, recommends the amount of discretionary calories you can have each day.
Discretionary Calories
Your body needs calories to survive, just to fuel basic activities; however, for total good health, the majority of those calories must provide the body with a variety of vitamins and nutrients. A well-rounded diet should include plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy, while limiting intake of fat, cholesterol, sugar and salt. However, USDA dietary guidelines also allow for some sensible splurging each day, says the American Dietetic Association. Some fat, sugar and salt can be included as discretionary calories --- foods that do not provide a lot of nutrition or raise the risk of disease.
Daily Allowance
The daily allowance of discretionary calories is based on your level of physical activity, overall health, gender and age. For most individuals, this is about 100 to 300 calories daily. To prevent weight gain, these discretionary calories must be part of your total daily caloric allowance. Younger individuals and males are allowed more discretionary calories but how physically active you are plays a bigger role. When you are active, your body requires a higher total caloric intake to support the activity, meaning you can also have more discretionary calories, reports the USDA MyPyramid.gov website. For example, a sedentary women between the ages of 30 and 50 can have about 195 discretionary calories; a sedentary male of the same age can have about 290 discretionary calories. If these two individuals engaged in a high level of physical activity, their discretionary calorie allowance would rise to between 265 to 290 for the female and 360 to 510 for the male.
Types
Only consume discretionary calories after you have met your body's nutrient needs. Then you can spend discretionary calories on food items such as pies, cookies, pastries, high-fat meats, high-fat dairy products, condiments and others. These are foods high in sugar, but are discretionary calories because sugar provides no nutritional value, notes the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. High-fat meats and dairy products may provide the body with nutrients but also raise the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and some forms of cancer, if eaten in excess.
Health Concerns
When choosing your discretionary calorie foods, it is still important not to go overboard. If you are trying to lose weight or are living with heart disease, diabetes, cancer or other chronic medical conditions, your physician should recommend what foods are okay. If choosing fatty foods, stay away from saturated fats and trans fats and try to find indulgence foods made with unsaturated fats. Many discretionary calorie foods can be high in salt, which can worsen high blood pressure, heart disease or kidney disease. Too much sugar can lead to weight gain and tooth decay, so go for artificially sweetened products when possible. Look for lower-calorie versions of indulgence foods and keep a food journal so you know you are not exceeding your daily calorie allowance. Though the USDA makes an allowance for discretionary calories, it is important to set some limits, especially if you are consuming these types of foods every day.
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