Figuring out how much to eat while achieving or maintaining a healthy weight can be difficult. Getting the proper nutrients and eating the right amount for your weight and activity level can contribute to healthy aging. This article provides suggestions for how older adults can get the nutrients they need within a recommended daily number of calories.
A calorie is a unit of measurement that describes how much energy is released when your body breaks down food. Although calorie count alone does not dictate whether a food is nutritious, thinking about how many calories you need can guide healthy eating habits. If you are over age 60 and you want to maintain your current weight, how many calories do you need to eat each day? The Dietary Guidelines suggest:
Unsure which activity category you’re in? Consult the Dietary Guidelines for definitions of each level. You can increase your physical activity level by adding walking, jogging, dancing, recreational sports, and other similar approaches to your day.
Serving and portion sizes
A “serving size” is a standard amount of a food, such as a cup or an ounce. Serving sizes can help you when choosing foods and when comparing similar items while shopping, but they are not recommendations for how much of a certain food to eat.
The term “portion” means how much of a food you are served or how much you eat. A portion size can vary from meal to meal. For example, at home you may serve yourself two small pancakes in one portion, but at a restaurant, you may get a stack of four pancakes as one portion. A portion size may also be bigger than a serving size. For example, the serving size on the nutrition label for your favorite cereal may be 1 cup, but you may actually pour yourself 1½ cups in a bowl.
Portion size can be a problem when eating out. To keep your portion sizes under control, try ordering smaller appetizers instead of an entrée as your meal, or share an entrée with a friend. Or eat just one-half of an entrée and take the rest home to enjoy as a meal the next day.
Healthy food shifts
Eating the right amount is important, but so is making sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need. Older adults often need fewer calories, but more nutrients, which makes it essential to eat nutrient-dense foods. To eat nutrient-dense foods across all the food groups, you may need to make some changes in your food and beverage choices. You can move toward a healthier eating pattern by making shifts in food choices over time. Here are some ideas:
Check out these tips for planning healthy meals as you get older.
Healthy beverage shifts
It’s easy to forget about calories you consume from beverages. If you drink sodas, creamy and sweet coffee drinks, or alcohol, swapping them out for healthier options can make a huge difference. There are plenty of beverage options that are low in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium. Here are some options:
100-calorie snacks
Another way to think about the idea of nutrient-dense and calorie-dense foods is to look at a variety of foods that all provide the same calories. Let’s say that you wanted to have a small snack. You might choose:
A 7- or 8-inch banana
20 peanuts
3 cups low-fat popcorn
Two regular chocolate-sandwich cookies
1/2 cup low-fat ice cream
One scrambled large egg cooked with oil
2 ounces baked chicken breast with no skin
These choices all have about 100 calories but provide different amounts of nutrients. The right choice for you may depend on what else you’re eating throughout the day.
Eating healthy is not just about how much you eat, it’s also about what you eat. Older adults should try to eat foods that are packed with nutrients while limiting foods that are high in calories but provide few nutrients. Swapping out snacks and beverages with nutrient-dense alternatives can help you get the nutrients you need while staying within your recommended number of calories.
You may also be interested in
Exploring different meal plans as you age
Learning how to read food labels
Finding out more about calorie restrictions
This content is provided by the NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure it is accurate and up to date.
Another easy way to size up portions is to use your hand as a guide: A clenched fist is about 1 cup — and that's the amount experts recommend for a portion of pasta, rice, cereal, vegetables, and fruit. A meat portion should be about as big as your palm.
However, quantity of food is always going to trump quality of food in terms of weight management. For example, if you were to consume only brown rice, grilled chicken and broccoli, which could be considered high quality foods, but you ate in a surplus, you would still gain weight. Conversely is also true.
For an average adult woman, the FDA recommends a daily intake of about 2,000 calories. Men are higher at about 2400 calories. See the US Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020 – the Estimated Calorie Needs per Day, by Age, Sex, and Physical Activity Level.
Similarly, if they consume less, they will lose weight, fat, and eventually muscle mass. According to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, adult females are likely to require between 1,600–2,400 calories a day, and adult males from 2,200–3,000.
once you get past that, it is much easier. The amount of food an individual needs to consume daily varies based on factors like age, gender, weight, height, and activity level. Generally, women need about 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, and men require about 2,000 to 3,000 calories.
Quality is a measure of excellence or of a state of being. It describes something, either of how it was made, or how it is as compared to others. Quantity, on the other hand, is the extent, size, or sum of something. It is countable or measurable, and can be expressed as a numerical value.
Unhealthy diets also have an impact on glucose, making blood glucose and insulin higher. This increases glutamate in the brain and plasma, thus reducing GABA production and release. Having a diet high in fat and cholesterol can cause changes in cell membranes that alter the release of neurotransmitters, too.
There are several ways you can measure serving size. You can use measuring cups and spoons, a kitchen scale, or a calculator. It can be difficult to measure out your food when you do not have these tools with you. One easy way to estimate serving sizes is to use your hand as a reference.
Though it differs depending on age and activity level, adult males generally require 2,000-3000 calories per day to maintain weight while adult females need around 1,600-2,400 according to the U.S Department of Health. The body does not require many calories to simply survive.
Fruit and vegetables: 5+ portions per day. Starchy carbohydrates: 3-4 portions per day. Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins: 2-3 portions per day. Dairy and alternatives: 2-3 portions per day.
Fill half the plate with vegetables, whether cooked or tossed in a salad. Fill a quarter of the plate with lean protein such as meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy, legumes, and tofu. Fill the remaining quarter of the plate with complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains.
Budget around 2000 calories/day for women and around 2400 calories/day for men. If strenuous activity is anticipated, the number of calories should be increased by about 200 calories. While foods high in fat and high in sugar quickly add to the calorie count (e.g., junk food!), they provide limited nutritional value.
Address: 2865 Kasha Unions, West Corrinne, AK 05708-1071
Phone: +3512198379449
Job: Design Planner
Hobby: Graffiti, Foreign language learning, Gambling, Metalworking, Rowing, Sculling, Sewing
Introduction: My name is Dong Thiel, I am a brainy, happy, tasty, lively, splendid, talented, cooperative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
