This calorie requirement chart presents estimated amounts of calories needed to maintain energy balance (and a healthy body weight) for various gender and age groups at three different levels of physical activity. The estimates are rounded to the nearest 200 calories and were determined using an equation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
|Gender||Age (years)||Activity Level|
|Child||2-3||1,000||1,000 – 1,400||1,000 – 1,400|
|Female||4 – 8||1,200||1,400 – 1,600||1,400 – 1,800|
|Female||9-13||1,600||1,600 – 2,000||1,800 – 2,000|
|Female||19-30||2,000||2,000 – 2,200||2,400|
|Female||51+||1,600||1,800||2,000 – 2,200|
|Male||4-8||1,400||1,400 – 1,600||1,600 – 2,000|
|Male||9-13||1,800||1,800 – 2,200||2,000 – 2,600|
|Male||14-18||2,200||2,400 – 2,800||2,800 – 3,200|
|Male||19-30||2,400||2,600 – 2,800||3,000|
|Male||31-50||2,200||2,400 – 2,600||2,800 – 3,000|
|Male||51+||2,000||2,200 – 2,400||2,400 – 2,800|
Source: HHS/USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans: 2005
- These levels are based on Estimated Energy Requirements (EER) from the IOM Dietary Reference Intakes macronutrients report, 2002, calculated by gender, age, and activity level for reference-sized individuals. “Reference size,” as determined by IOM, is based on median height and weight for ages up to age 18 years of age and median height and weight for that height to give a BMI of 21.5 for adult females and 22.5 for adult males.
- Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
- Moderately active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
- Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
- The calorie ranges shown are to accommodate needs of different ages within the group. For children and adolescents, more calories are needed at older ages. For adults, fewer calories are needed at older ages.
Source: National Heart Lung Blood Institute