Determining Daily Caloric Intake for Teens

          One of the most common looked for things on a Nutrition Fact sheet is the amount of calories in that certain object. Common facts people are lead to believe are that you need to burn all the calories you eat to not gain weight, the less calories: the better, and that calories are just bad overall. These people don’t realize that we need calories in our diet to be healthy.

          First, you need to know what a calorie is. A calorie is a unit of energy. The amount of calories in an object is the amount of potential energy you can receive from eating that certain food. In the macronutrients there are 9 calories in a gram of fat and 4 calories in a gram of protein and of carbohydrate. These may seem like somewhat large numbers, but they’re exactly what our bodies need.

          Our body needs calories for everyday life. Since calories provide energy, they give us the ability to walk, run and do many other things that we don’t give a second thought about. These calories aren’t bad, but sometimes they’re not exactly a good thing either.

          To be able to know how much is enough you have to use the factors you have which are your gender, age and activity level. On average, males usually need more calories than females and younger people (mainly teens) usually need more calories than older people. Kids and teens are usually growing during adolescent years so they need more calories to make sure they have the right amounts of energy. It’s also a known fact that people who are more active generally need more calories than people who don’t because they burn off calories faster.

          Since there are so many factors of a “good” amount of calorie intake, there is no “right” amount. Teens in general can have the need anywhere from 1,800 to 3,200 calories in one day. According to MyPyramid less active teens should get about 1,800 to 2,400 calories, moderately active teens should get about 2,000 to 2,800 calories, and very active teens should get about 2,400 to 3,200 calories. Girls are usually have the lower amount of calories and boys are usually have the larger amount. Based on this alone is a good place to acknowledge how much you should be receiving.

          Too many calories aren’t recommended as this can lead to becoming overweight. The energy that goes unused by your body is turned into fat which is almost always looked upon as bad. You can’t exactly burn all the calories you receive off, but you can maintain a healthy amount by eating healthy, being aware of how much you eat, and having physical activity for a good amount of the day.