i'm a14, male, 5' 8" 120 pounds how many calories do i really need?

[Olly Joe!!]

liek i said i'm a 14 male 5' 8" 120 pounds and very active
i'm not looking to lose weight.
but how many calories should i eat?
and on days that i'm not that active how mant calories should i eat?

[Cool.]

2,500
youre skinny and still growing
so you do need more

[Ashley.]

Eat about 2000, possibly more if you wanna gain weight.

[razzmire]

lose weight?
mabye u need muscle cause if ur 120 ur too skinny
im ur height and weigh 200 and need to lose weight but i am ver muscular so if u look flabby and only r 120 u need to build muscle not lose fat

[Jessica M]

everyone should have 2,000 calories a day

[Lily]

Ur Perfect.even Skinny. Eat Healthy,dont Eat Crazp,go Swimming,and Walk To School Unless Its Rainy.thats It! Shut Up And Do Good To Ur Health!!! Bye!

[Brooke]

try this website

[OnLy yew]

u should eat 1000 calories everyday...its not too much or too little...its just right....on days your not that active the same

[Betty B]

You got some funny answers so far, like the one about “everyone should eat 2000 calories a day”…NOT! If I would eat that much, I’d be so huge. I’m a woman, so I need 1,200 a day, unless I exercise a lot (a few hours) so I can eat 1,500 (and 1,800 if I’m on vacation, skiing all day long!). Maybe that’s why a lot of women are big…because they think they can eat 2,000 calories a day! And most of them are not even exercising. I guess it comes from the packages of food products where all their calculations are based on a 2,000 calories diet…talk about excluding women!!!
But this does not apply to you…because you’re a guy. I’m just writing this for any women reading this.

You’re in the “I need gazillions of calories” category…young, active, growing, male…you can eat at least three times as much as an older female because your body will need three times as much. I even had a student staying in my house one summer…I calculated he ate 8 times what I ate! (if I had one 2-inches piece of sausage, he would have eight 2-inches pieces of sausage). He was a 22 years old, 7’ tall muscular active guy (football player kinda guy). Since my husband and my son are males, they both ate three times as much as myself, so with that extra guy eating 8 times what I ate, I basically had to cook for 15 servings and they were no leftovers.

As a general rule, males need a lot more calories than females. A couch potato male will need more calories than an athletic female. It’s a bit unfair for all those women having food cravings and they cannot eat because they don’t want to gain weight but the lazy guy on his couch can have fries!
I’m never bothered by men making more money than women for the same job…after all, they have to spend at least three times as much on food, if they’re couch potatoes, otherwise, it’s even more. Also young people, as you are, need more calories and if you’re growing, you need A LOT, especially if you’re very active, as you say. In the next few years, you should grow a few inches and gain a few pounds of muscles.

My son was exactly like you a few years ago. 5'8" 120lbs, and I clearly remember that he was the same height as my husband but he had my weight and since I was only 5’5”, I envied him, because he was taller than me but not heavier. He was a young, growing man so he had more muscle mass than me…an old, not growing woman. Now, he’s 18, almost 6” (he’s taller than his father, in every sense) and almost 150 pounds.
He’s thin but very muscular because he’s very active (he’s a track runner) and he eats constantly. While I’m cooking dinner, he can have a 1,000 calories can of raviolis as a snack (4 or 5 servings).

It is very funny because I just asked him how much he weighs exactly now (doing research regarding answering your question) and he went on my scale and he was kinda disappointed he was only 149 pounds when he thought he was 150! And I’m like…you’re disappointed you’re a pound lighter than you think and I’m disappointed I’m a pound heavier than I think so…I wish I could give you my pound! (as I'm getting older, it's getting harder and harder to stay in the 120 pounds vicinity!) . But my son does not want my pound since my pound is a pound of fat or water retention and his pound is a pound of muscle!

In the next few years, you’ll need to gain about 30 pounds, which will be muscle mass and grow a few inches, you will transform from a kid to a man. You need to stay very active, like being part of an athletic team.
You can go from a 14 years old, in shape, 120 pounds to an amazing 18 years old, 150 pounds, muscular, strong, with biceps that will make your girlfriend drools and your mother being amazed. Where is my little boy? I don’t know! Here’s that strong guy instead.

My advice would be for you to eat as much as you want, as much as you need. If you’re active, young and growing, you need to eat A LOT. Your focus should be on healthy food instead of calories counting. But at your level, you can have fast food as a snacks with no problems if you have healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Make sure that about 60% of your calories intake comes from carbohydrates (sugar), 15% from proteins and 25% from fat (unsaturated ones, mostly).

You could calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is the number of calories you need just to live. Then you could add a percentage depending on your activity level. Then make some adjustments, like if you’re young, you will need more calories than if you’re old. If you’re still growing, like you are, you will need even more. But I would not worry about all that if I were you.
Calorie counting are for people like me, the “if I eat more than 1,200 calories, my body will make fat reserves” people. Counting calories are not for active 14 years old growing males, since they can eat TONS of calories. Just focus on eating healthy.

Edit:
On days you are not that active, you should eat more carbohydrates to prepare for the days when you are. My son eats tons of pasta the day before a meet (at least 8 servings). The energy you will have doing sports usually comes from what you ate and already digested the day before. You do not want to eat a lot just before you're active because you digestion system is very demanding on your body. I personnally cannot exercise while digesting. So when you're not that active, you should eat more so you'll get lots of energy when you're active the next day.

[David V]

If your 5'8 and only 120 pounds you should eat 4000 calories untill your 145 pounds