Really? That many?

2000 For women and 2500 for men. That's how many calories the goverment recommend we all consume per day, Don't believe me? Then go and grab a packet of anything in your cupboard and read just above the ingredients, it's under GDA (Guideline Daily Amounts). OK, so what about Mrs Jones who is a 28 year old, 6' 2", 85kg factory worker who 1.spends 12 hours a day loading pallets and 2.plays tennis in her spare time? Or how about Mr Smith who is a 24 year old 6' 5" 98kg builder who also spends on average 8 hours a day, no not drinking tea, but climbing ladders and moving various pieces of masonry about the place, before heading off to the gym for a bit of a chat and a pose otherwise known as a workout?


What I'm getting at here is if Mrs Jones and Mr Smith were to listen to, and stick by, the governments calorific intake Guidleines then they would be seriously putting their health at risk. Lets take a look at the stats to work out why: Mrs Jones burns on average 2488 calories a day and Mr Smith about 3334, Really? That many? I hear you say, then maybe you should check out a previous post of mine titled 'everyone needs this in their life' as the equation is on there as to how I worked that out. Maybe you could work yours out too?   


I digress, although I have used extreme examples above, and the government Guidelines are what the 'average' adult should consume, (how many of us are average by the way?) well unless you are a 5'10'' 30 year old male, weighing 12 stone, then you shouldn't be listening to the government (as if you've not heard that before) when it comes to your diet, as you are (sorry to disappoint you) not average. Therefore, like the above examples, (Mrs Jones, who has a deficit of almost 500 calories a day, would lose close to 1lb per week and Mr Smith, who's deficit is almost 1000 calories a day, would lose close to 2lbs a week) you will not be getting enough calories in your diet to function optimally. Or, you could be going the other way, lets say you are ''vertically challenged'' and lead a very sedentary (long hours of office based work with a bit of sleep in between and not much else)  lifestyle, then the government recommendations could be too much for you, thus leading to unnecessary weight gain, aka FAT, and nobody wants that!


In summary, everyone should be made aware of exactly how many calories they are burning and how many they should be consuming per day. Yes I am suggesting that the equation on how to work it out should be printed on the food and drink labels instead of the GDA. And why not? People, and not just those who care about their health and appearance, should be made aware of how they can work out how to either maintain, increase or decrease their weight.


Thank you for taking the time to read my very first detailed blog, any comments are welcome and will be appreciated.  


Matt