A few people have got in touch with me lately to ask me how many calories I eat each day, and I’m sorry but I won’t reveal that information, so I’m writing this post to explain why.
I see people commenting on loads of other health bloggers’ social media posts asking them the same question (and the very popular bloggers undoubtedly get asked far more than I do). But I’ve noticed that hardly any of those bloggers reveal the number of calories they eat either.
Why not? Because the truth is that revealing that information won’t help anyone else achieve their goals because we all have different calorie requirements.
Sadly there isn’t a magic calorie intake that is the perfect number for everyone.
It just doesn’t work that way.
We all have very different lifestyles, not to mention height, weight and ages. So what works for me isn’t going to work for everyone else. Just like (to put it in the most easy to understand terms) what works for pint-size Clean Eating Alice isn’t going to work for six foot tall Zanna Van Dijk. It makes sense, right!?
I love helping people to achieve their health and fitness goals, and in all honesty I would love to be able to say some special number that is the ‘secret’. But it doesn’t exist.
For most people, just making generally healthy choices will be absolutely fine to help you achieve many of your health and fitness goals. But if you do want to find out exactly what your ideal calorie intake should be then my advice is to hire a personal trainer or a nutritionist (or someone else qualified in that kind of thing – the list could go on and on). It’s also worth noting that this number will change over time though – it’s not like the calorie intake recommended amount that works for you right now will definitely work for you in a year’s time because there are so many factors that affect this seemingly simple number.
Please don’t fixate on calories though. Yes, the calorie balance equation is important – so if you consume more calories than you burn then you’ll gain weight, for example. But there’s no need to stick to calories rigidly unless you are competing in a bodybuilding competition (or something similar).
My advice for most people (particularly if you can’t afford to see a nutritionist, etc) is to just make generally healthier choices with food and exercise. Keep an eye on how much you’re consuming so you don’t go crazy overeating (or drastically under-eating). But don’t become fixated on it and definitely don’t just eat the same calories as your ‘fitspo’.
I totally get the reasoning behind asking someone how many calories they eat, but the main thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how much anyone else eats because their calorie intake is highly unlikely to fit your body and lifestyle in the exact same way. We are all unique. Wonderfully unique!
Leave a Reply