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> 2) American portion sizes for one meal could feed an entire African family for a week, American portions are obscene I don't get why people get so up in arms

> 2) American portion sizes for one meal could feed an entire African family for a week, American portions are obscene I don't get why people get so up in arms about this, especially as it's socially acceptable to take out leftovers (unlike, say, Italy). Personally, I'm a tallish, moderately active guy and I need some 3.5k-4k kcal a day, and America is the only country I've been to that I don't have to worry about being hungry after a meal out.

iLoveOncall 3y ago
> Personally, I'm a tallish, moderately active guy and I need some 3.5k-4k kcal a day No you don't. Unless you're an incredibly athletic giant you definitely don't need twice as many calories as an average man.
- C-x_C-f 3y ago
  I simply observed that I lose weight if I eat <3k kcal over long stretches. I think human metabolism has a very wide variance, though it's hard to find good quality studies about it.
  - iLoveOncall 3y ago
    You went from 4K to 3K in a single post. Needless to say you're not exactly reliable.
    - C-x_C-f 3y ago
      I count my calories and I eat between 3.5k and 4k. I had a few periods where I ate <3k. These are two separate things. The latter is significant because the fact that I lost weight makes me think that I need my usual intake to retain my weight.
      - iLoveOncall 3y ago
        Dude you need to be a 6"5 320lbs monster to lose weight on less than 3,000 calories a day. https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=35&csex=m&cheightfeet=6&cheightinch=5&cpound=320&cheightmeter=190&ckg=150&cmop=0&coutunit=c&cformula=m&cfatpct=20&x=44&y=3 https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standar...
        C-x_C-f 3y ago
        Metabolism varies widely among individuals, and there is no clear understanding on the relationship between calorie intake and weight. All the calculators and estimates you find on the internet are based on surface level low-quality estimates that don't (and can't) take into account all of the variances at work. That said I am aware that I'm a bit of an extreme case (always been teased for that) but that's how random variables work, sometimes there are data points outside of the bulk.
- eMSF 3y ago
  The 2000 kcal reference (which I assume you're referring to) isn't for "an average man", but for an average person. For an average man, the reference value would be somewhere between 2.5k to 3k.
Brybry 3y ago
Because, at the end of the day, calories are what cause weight gain. Consider if you had a pet and you were to put out twice as much food for every feeding. It gets even worse if you think about cultural aspects, like teaching kids to make a "happy plate", which condition them to eat everything served to them. Sure, studies have not been able to show strong evidence of a causal link between portion size and obesity.[1][2][3] But it's hard to ignore that American obesity rates and portion sizes have increased over the same period of time. And, at the very least, decreasing portion size probably helps with maintaining weight. [4] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224223/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224223/ [2] https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/portion_size_research.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/portion_size_... [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4105579/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4105579/ [4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35387692/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35387692/

iLoveOncall 3y ago

> Personally, I'm a tallish, moderately active guy and I need some 3.5k-4k kcal a day No you don't. Unless you're an incredibly athletic giant you definitely don't need twice as many calories as an average man.

C-x_C-f 3y ago
I simply observed that I lose weight if I eat <3k kcal over long stretches. I think human metabolism has a very wide variance, though it's hard to find good quality studies about it.
- iLoveOncall 3y ago
  You went from 4K to 3K in a single post. Needless to say you're not exactly reliable.
  - C-x_C-f 3y ago
    I count my calories and I eat between 3.5k and 4k. I had a few periods where I ate <3k. These are two separate things. The latter is significant because the fact that I lost weight makes me think that I need my usual intake to retain my weight.
    - iLoveOncall 3y ago
      Dude you need to be a 6"5 320lbs monster to lose weight on less than 3,000 calories a day. https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=35&csex=m&cheightfeet=6&cheightinch=5&cpound=320&cheightmeter=190&ckg=150&cmop=0&coutunit=c&cformula=m&cfatpct=20&x=44&y=3 https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standar...
      - C-x_C-f 3y ago
        Metabolism varies widely among individuals, and there is no clear understanding on the relationship between calorie intake and weight. All the calculators and estimates you find on the internet are based on surface level low-quality estimates that don't (and can't) take into account all of the variances at work. That said I am aware that I'm a bit of an extreme case (always been teased for that) but that's how random variables work, sometimes there are data points outside of the bulk.
eMSF 3y ago
The 2000 kcal reference (which I assume you're referring to) isn't for "an average man", but for an average person. For an average man, the reference value would be somewhere between 2.5k to 3k.

Brybry 3y ago

Because, at the end of the day, calories are what cause weight gain. Consider if you had a pet and you were to put out twice as much food for every feeding. It gets even worse if you think about cultural aspects, like teaching kids to make a "happy plate", which condition them to eat everything served to them. Sure, studies have not been able to show strong evidence of a causal link between portion size and obesity.[1][2][3] But it's hard to ignore that American obesity rates and portion sizes have increased over the same period of time. And, at the very least, decreasing portion size probably helps with maintaining weight. [4] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224223/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224223/ [2] https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/portion_size_research.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/portion_size_... [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4105579/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4105579/ [4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35387692/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35387692/