Healthy Daily Calories
How many calories one needs to be healthy varies by individual. Though there is an average caloric intake for women and men, there are many factors to consider such as body type and activity level.
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Average Caloric Intake by Gender
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Normally it is said that the average woman needs 1,800 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight, and the average man needs around 2,200 calories. If you need to lose or put on weight that average is going to change. To know exactly what you need to be eating in order to achieve your personal goal, visit the Calorie Calculator website (see Resources).
Active Lifestyle
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People who are active typically need about 300 calories more per day to maintain a healthy weight. An active lifestyle includes 30 minutes of vigorous exercise five times per week. For people who exercise more than that, about 500 calories more per day is recommended. This recommendation is usually for people who are training for marathons or are involved in hours of physical activity a day, such as professional athletes.
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Non-Active Lifestyle
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If you get no physical exercise outside of regular daily activity, such as work and household chores, it is crucial to stick to the recommended daily caloric intake for your age and gender. That recommended daily intake is based on what your body needs to function just to stay alive. Anything more than the recommended daily caloric intake will result in weight gain.
Why Men and Women Have Different Caloric Needs
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Men naturally are built larger than women and have greater muscle mass. Because of these two factors, men burn calories faster than women, giving them a greater need for calories.
All Calories Are Not the Same
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Just because your body needs a certain number of calories per day to function does not mean that those calories can come from anywhere. Your body also needs nutrition to function. For example, a 6-inch chicken breast Subway sandwich on whole wheat bread with all the veggies and cheese has 320 calories and a McDonald's cheeseburger has 300 calories, yet their nutritional value varies greatly. Though the calories are slightly higher with the Subway sandwich, it also contains more protein, fiber and vitamins and minerals that the body needs than the cheeseburger does. The sandwich also contains 4.5 grams of fat verses the 12 grams that the cheeseburger has. .
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