The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the average American woman consumes about 1,745 calories a day. Caloric requirements are a product of your body's basal metabolic rate, or the amount of energy your body expends performing simple functions such as respiration, combined with your physical activity level. While the average caloric intake for a female teenager is highly individual, the USDA provides estimated caloric requirements for this population according three activity levels.
Active Female Teenagers
According to the USDA, active female teenagers require about 2,400 calories each day to support their energy needs. The USDA considers "active" as receiving the physical equivalent of walking more than three miles each day at a speed of 3 to 4 miles per hour, coupled with normal physical activity related to daily life. Any female teenager who plays sports or gets regular daily exercise would fall into the active category.
Moderately Active Females
Moderate active female teenagers, according to the USDA, require about 2,000 calories each day. By USDA guidelines, "moderately active" refers to a female teenager who walks the equivalent of 1.5 to 3 miles a day at a speed of 3 to 4 miles per hour, combined with normal daily activity. The majority of female teenagers fall into the moderately active category.
Sedentary Female Teenagers
Sedentary female teenagers refer to those who obtain only the physical activity associated with normal daily life. According to the USDA, sedentary female teenagers require just 1,800 calories each day to support their energy needs. Only the most inactive female teenagers fall into the sedentary category.
Calorie Calculators
The USDA's estimated caloric requirements are based on a female who is 5 feet 4 inches in height and 126 lbs. For a more accurate estimation of your body's caloric needs, use an online calculator. This calculator will account for your age, sex and body composition. This information will then be combined with your typical activity level using a formula known as the Harris-Benedict equation. For example, an 18-year-old female teenager who is 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 130 lbs. and is somewhat active, requires about 1,900 calories a day, according to the Mayo Clinic's online calorie calculator.
Nutrient Calorie Breakdown
You can also use your total daily caloric requirement to estimate the amount of calories you need from each of the three macronutrients: carbohydrate, fat and protein. The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine suggests that teenage females obtain 45 to 65 percent of their calories from carbohydrate, 25 to 35 percent from fat and 10 to 35 percent from protein. The teenage female described above would then need about 1,045 calories from carbohydrate, 570 from fat and 428 from protein each day.
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