When you want to lose weight, staying within a certain calorie range can benefit your efforts, as consuming 3,500 fewer calories than you need generally results in a 1 lb. weight loss. Before arbitrarily deciding on 2,000 calories as your weight loss target, understanding how many calories you need to maintain your weight based on your gender and age can help you determine whether this caloric amount will help you meet your goals.
Calorie Equation
While you need to cut about 3,500 calories each week to lose 1 lb., if you are already eating 2,000 calories a day or less without losing weight, a 2,000-calorie diet will not cause you to lose weight without adding dedicated, calorie-burning exercise. However, if you eat more than 2,000 calories, reducing your intake to 2,000 can help you lose weight. In general, a sedentary 19 to 25 year old female, a 26 to 50 year old moderately active female and a female over 65 needs 2,000 calories to maintain her weight. For men, eating 2,000 calories should be appropriate for weight loss, as only sedentary men over 61 need just 2,000 calories for weight maintenance.
Benefits
Eating at the 2,000-calorie level allows you to easily fulfill your nutrient requirements as outlined in the USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The USDA bases its standard dietary intake for food label information and nutrient intake on a 2,000-calorie diet. When you consume 2,000 calories daily, you can have three filling meals, as well as two healthy snacks and still stay within your caloric allowance, making it less likely that you will feel the need to indulge on unhealthy foods.
Implementation
Before beginning to use the 2,000-calorie level to lose weight, monitor how many calories you eat by writing down all the food you consume for several days in a row. Average the total to find out whether you consistently eat more or less than 2,000 calories. If you currently average 2,500 to 3,500 calories a day, subtract 2,000 from your average calories to see how many calories to cut each day. If you currently average 2,000 or fewer calories per day, consider eating fewer than 2,000 calories, or burning additional calories through 30 to 60 minutes of exercise each day. If you maintain your weight at 2,000 calories, burning 500 calories a day through exercise can help you lose weight.
Sample Day
Your 2,000 calories can include two 200-calorie snacks, a 650-calorie dinner, a 550-calorie lunch and a 400-calorie breakfast, or you can distribute the calories in a way that suits your lifestyle. Focus on nutritious calories for all meals. A healthy breakfast may include a cup of whole-grain cereal or oatmeal, a whole-wheat bagel with fat-free cream cheese or reduced-fat peanut butter and a piece of fruit and a glass of fat-free milk. Eat salads, grilled fish or poultry, broth or bean-based soups and sandwiches with lean cuts of beef for lunch. Include fruits and vegetables as side dishes and snacks to meet your required 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2.1 cups of fruits. For dinner, select vegetarian bean dishes, skinless, roasted poultry, small servings of whole-wheat pasta with steamed vegetables or low-sodium marinara sauce, or 4 oz. of grilled seafood. Healthy, filling snacks include nuts, dried or fresh fruit, fat-free yogurt, vegetables with hummus dip and whole-grain crackers and reduced-fat cheese.
References
- National Institutes of Health; Tips for Losing Weight; David Zieve, et al.; October 2009
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Food Diary a Great Tool for Losing Weight, Expert Says; January 2010
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Sample Menus for a 2,000 Calorie Food Pattern
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