Eating a healthy diet is not just about your weight. Your body needs nutrients and nutrient-dense foods in order to run well, avoid sickness, and stay healthy. All of that is independent of your weight goals, or whether you even have weight goals. Bodies need high-quality fuel regardless of their size.

Many people look to the food pyramid or the USDA’s MyPlate diagram to know what their bodies need to run, but these guidelines may not give you all the answers.

“Nutrition guidelines are not one size fits all,” says Caroline Susie, a registered dietitian in private practice in Dallas, Texas. “Your individual needs vary widely depending on factors like your age, sex, body size, activity level, health status and personal goals.”

National Guidelines for Calorie Intake

Most adults at a normal weight should take in 1,600 to 3,000 calories a day, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 . But that’s a big range. That’s because your calorie needs depend at the very least on your age, sex, and activity level.

Here’s a look at daily calorie intake recommendations for women based on their age and activity level:

Age	Sedentary	Moderately Active	Very Active
21-25	2,000	2,200	2,400
26-30	1,800	2,000	2,400
31-50	1,800	2,000	2,200
51-60	1,600	1,800	2,200
61+	1,600	1,800	2,000

Here’s what those recommendations look like for men, whose calorie needs change much more frequently:

Age	Sedentary	Moderately Active	Very Active
21-25	2,400	2,800	3,000
26-35	2,400	2,600	3,000
36-40	2,400	2,600	2,800
41-45	2,200	2,600	2,800
46-55	2,200	2,400	2,800
56-60	2,200	2,400	2,600
61-65	2,000	2,400	2,600
66-75	2,000	2,200	2,600
76+	2,000	2,200	2,400

One Size Does Not Fit All

Your age, sex, and activity level don’t paint the full picture either. Your calorie needs are further determined by:

• Height
• Weight
• Hormones
• Medications
• Sleep
• Stress level

A registered dietitian (RD) or other health care provider would use some of those factors — specifically sex, age, height, and weight — to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the minimum number of calories your body needs to perform its most basic, indispensable functions. This figure, in addition to your activity level and weight and fitness goals, is needed to calculate exactly how many calories you need each day.

It’s Not Just Calories, It’s Nutrients

And we haven’t yet mentioned the critical nutrients you need each day, including:

• Carbohydrates
• Fat
• Protein
• Essential vitamins A, B, D, E, and K
• Essential minerals, such as calcium, iron, potassium and sodium, among others

The USDA’s My Plate diagram, which replaced the food pyramid, addresses nutrients, or at least “food groups,” in a very generalized way.

The idea is that you’ll get most of the nutrients you need if you fill your plate according to USDA’s recommendations. Half your plate should consist of vegetables and fruits. The vegetables should take up a little over a quarter of the plate and the fruit just under a quarter. On the other half, grains, such as rice or bread, should take up a little over a quarter, and your protein should take up just under a quarter.

But that strategy isn’t one-size fits all either. Your lifestyle and goals have an effect on both your caloric and nutritional needs, too. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios that might have a bearing on your body’s nutritional needs.

I’m Overweight and Not Trying to Lose

How many calories it takes to keep your body running depends on your height, weight, age, and sex. In general, someone who is overweight and not trying to lose will require more calories for their body to function — that’s BMR — while maintaining their weight.

For example, a 45-year-old woman who is 5’5” and 200 pounds has an estimated BMR of 1,602 calories a day, while that same woman at 130 pounds has a BMR of 1,309 calories a day.

But it’s not just about calories. Nutrients are especially important for people in this group.

“If you are living in a larger body, carrying more visceral fat or subcutaneous fat, you may have higher vitamin D needs because some excess vitamin D is actually being sequestered in the fat,” says Judy Simon, a dietitian at the Nutrition Clinic at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt in Seattle, Washington.

That’s not the only nutrient that people with overweight or obesity may be lacking. It’s common for them to have a poor quality diet. That is, they may be getting the calories they need, but not the essential nutrients. For this reason, the World Health Organization considers all people with obesity to be malnourished.

Regardless of whether you are trying to gain, lose, or maintain, it’s critical you get the protein, fiber, iron, and other essential nutrients your body needs.

I’m Overweight and Trying to Lose

If you’re trying to lose weight, you already know that one thing you need to do is to consume fewer calories than you burn. Your body burns calories just by operating, and you can make it burn more through increased physical activity.

But again, Simon warns, it can be easy for people in this camp to become malnourished. This is especially true for people who use weight loss injectables and may have an extremely diminished appetite. It’s even more important to make every calorie count. Those small meals need to be healthy ones as you’ve got less opportunity to take in nutrients when you’re eating so much less.

“We cannot make the assumption that if you’re overweight, it’s OK if you don’t eat,” she says. “No, it’s not OK. You’re going to get malnourished.”

I’m an Athlete and I Need to Be at Peak Performance

Elite athletes, on the other hand, have very different dietary needs. For sure, anyone doing intense daily physical activity will need to take in more calories than the average person. But what form those calories take depends on the type of physical activity.

“If they’re doing a lot of aerobic or cardiovascular activity, they’re going to need additional carbohydrates,” Susie says. “If it’s a body builder, we want to focus on protein for them.”

I Take Medications

A lot of medications can change the way your gut absorbs certain nutrients.

You might need more B12 if you take metformin or acid-reducing medications, such as proton pump inhibitors like Prilosec or H2 blockers like Pepcid.

You can get more vitamin B12 from many protein sources, including clams, trout, tuna, beef, and plain Greek yogurt. It’s also found in eggs, ham and chicken.

You might run low on potassium if you take water pills that make you pee more, such as chlorothiazide (Diuril), chlorthalidone (Hygroton), and hydrochlorothiazide (Esidrix, HydroDiuril, Microzide).

You can boost your potassium by adding more bananas, potatoes, lima beans, yams, acorn squash, and spinach to your diet.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can lower your CoQ10 levels, too. This enzyme that the body makes on its own is crucial for cell growth and energy production. It’s found in oily fish, like salmon and tuna; organ meats, such as liver; and whole grains, including brown rice and whole wheat bread.

I’m Getting Older

“Where you are in your life cycle makes a big impact on your nutritional needs,” Simon says. Generally, your calorie needs drop as you get older and your metabolism slows down. And your needs related to vitamins and minerals change, too.

For example, “Iron needs are higher for women during their childbearing years because they lose blood during their menstrual cycle, but as soon as they hit menopause, we don’t want them to have all that extra iron because they don’t need it, and it could cause oxidative stress.”

Both men and women need more calcium and vitamin D as they grow older in order to support bone health.

How Do I Know What’s Right for Me?

What a human body needs to keep running is very nuanced. Checking out national guidelines for daily calorie intake and food group recommendations is a great place to start. See how close you are to those recommendations and then consider talking to your doctor or a registered dietitian about how to tailor your diet to your specific circumstances from there.