Adults ages 31 to 59 generally require fewer calories, according to the guidelines: Most females require about 1,600 to 2,200 calories a day and males require about 2,200 to 3,000 calories a day U
The 3,000 calorie meal plan is a bulking diet that I put together, specifically made for people who have a low budget. If you want to eat 3,000 calories per day on a budget, aim for a lot of brown rice, chicken breast, and oatmeal. An daily 1800 calorie deficit would be 12600 for the week, which divided by 3500 (calories per pound) is 3.6 lbs -- or right about what I've been doing. My BMR is close to 2500, so burning an extra 1000-1500 calories a day on top of sitting on my butt doesn't seem that insane, though it does seem unlikely. So, here's the problem.Essentially, TDEE is the total of four main sources of burning calories in a day: BMR, exercise, physical activity outside of planned workouts, and calories burned digesting food (called the thermic effect of food). Then, if you want to lose weight with a 3000 calories meal plan, your TDEE should be higher than 3000 calories a day.
If you’re eating 2,500 calories a day, that’s only an extra 250 calories—or roughly the amount in a small serving of fries. It doesn’t have to be just junk food, either.
Check out GoKaleo's blog. She touts the idea that 2500-3000 calories absolutely isn't abnormal for active ladies. I'm 5'7", and I've eaten around 3000 calories for about a couple months and have only gained a couple pounds. Do that's a tad over my TDEE, but apparently not by much.
In an example below, in order to not lose weight, a 160 pound male hiking 10 miles a day, with a 3,000 elevation gain, would need around 4,000 calories per day, or 2.0 pounds of food per day (assuming a caloric density of 125 calories per ounce). This is a very rough estimate, and should not be taken too seriously.
xFGV.