What are the minimum calories that must be met when dieting? & bull; hello healthy

Sometimes, those of you who are on a diet severely limit your food intake, to the point that it has a negative impact on your health. Instead of wanting to lose weight, you can get disease instead. Too strict a diet can interfere with your body's performance. Therefore, if you are on a diet, at least you meet your body's minimum calorie needs, there is no need to cut all your calories.

Minimum calories that must be met when dieting

Diet doesn't mean you shouldn't eat at all, but only limits your calorie intake a little. A good diet must be calculated according to the needs of your body, so the diet you do is safe and effective in losing weight.

The average woman needs an intake of 2000 calories per day, while the average man needs an intake of 2500 calories per day. In order to lose weight, ideally you only need to reduce 500 calories per day. So, women need 1500 calories and men need 2000 calories per day to lose weight. With a reduction of 500 calories per day, you can lose 0.5-1 kg of your body weight per week.

However, sometimes a reduction of 500 calories per day is not enough to be able to lose weight quickly. So, many people, especially women, limit their calorie intake to below 1500 calories. If you refer to what was said by Michelle Davenport, Ph.D, a nutritionist, active women need a minimum of 1200-1400 calories of calories per day. By meeting these minimal calorie requirements, you can ensure that you are eating enough food so that your body's metabolism is not compromised.

However, if you do active exercise, you should increase your calorie intake to compensate for the calories you burn while exercising, continues Davenport, as reported by Women's Health.

However, that's still a rough count. If you want to calculate correctly, there are factors to consider, such as age, current height and weight, activity level, metabolic health, and so on. To find out exactly how many minimum calories you need each day, it's best to visit your dietitian. Together with a nutritionist, you can plan your weight loss diet.

What if my calorie intake is less than the recommended minimum?

Be careful when doing a diet, unconsciously, your intake may be less than the minimum recommended intake. This can make your calorie intake very low per day. Very low calorie intake is usually in the range of 800-1000 calories per day or it could be less.

If your calorie intake is in this range for approximately 4-16 weeks, this will cause mild side effects, such as:

• Constipation
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue

Very low calorie diets can also have serious side effects, such as gallstones. Gallstones can occur if you lose weight very quickly (a very high risk for women). However, it was not clear at this time whether a very low calorie diet directly causes gallstones or whether gallstones occur due to the large amount of weight lost.

If your calorie intake is too low per day, the body will break down muscle tissue (not fat) as a source of energy and this is certainly not good for everyone. A very low calorie diet is not recommended for adolescents, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. Most teenagers have the wrong diet, even though they are in need of a lot of nutrients for their growth and development.

Tips for reducing calorie intake in a healthy way

Calories are what you need as a source of energy to carry out your daily activities. For this reason, the fulfillment of enough calories per day for bodily functions is very necessary, even though you are on a diet.

The following are tips for those of you who want to lose weight, but still meet your calorie needs.

1. Eat more protein

   Protein can reduce your appetite and can also increase the number of calories you burn. The body needs a lot of energy to metabolize protein, thus indirectly burning calories in your body.

2. Avoid sugary drinks

   Such as soft drinks, soft drinks, fruit juices, and others. Sweet drinks can be one of the factors that can cause you to gain weight. Liquid calories obtained from sugary drinks do not make the brain aware that many calories have entered your body, because they are not the same as solid calories from food. This keeps you hungry so you will continue to eat other foods.

3. Drink a lot of water

   Also can help you lose weight. Drinking water before meals may help reduce hunger so that you eat less. Plus, drinking lots of water can increase the number of calories you burn per day.

4. Get regular exercise

   Of course, because doing regular exercise can balance the calories that enter and leave your body. Weight exercise is also important because it can inhibit the loss of muscle mass and can prevent the slowing of the metabolic rate in your body.

5. Reducing carbohydrate intake

   Especially carbohydrates and sugars that have gone through a lot of processing. Research shows that limiting carbohydrate intake can lose 2-3 times as much weight as when you limit your fat intake. Your appetite tends to fall, so you eat less.