How Many Calories Do Kids Need? By Age and Sex

Energy values are the estimated calorie needs per day from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025 (USDA and HHS, Appendix 2), for a child who is moderately active, taken at the middle of each published range. Protein values are the Recommended Dietary Allowance from the Dietary Reference Intakes (Appendix 1): 13 g for ages 1 to 3, 19 g for 4 to 8, 34 g for 9 to 13 and, for 14 to 18, 46 g for girls and 52 g for boys. They are population reference values, not a prescription for one child.

The 14 to 17 band is the first with a clear sex difference: about 600 kcal a day between the girls' and boys' midpoints, and protein of 46 g and 52 g.

Mealyno splits the day into 30 % breakfast, 35 % lunch and 35 % dinner, and every snack is 10 % of the day, taken proportionally from the three main meals. These are the same shares the household planner uses for adults. The table uses the mean of the girls' and boys' values.

A 4 to 8 year old at 1,500 kcal and a 14 to 17 year old boy at 2,600 kcal are far apart, and inside each band children differ a lot. Appetite follows growth spurts, sleep and activity from week to week, so a child who eats little at one meal and a lot at the next is usually behaving normally. Treat the values as the middle of a range, and let a pediatrician judge an individual child's growth.

Activity matters: a sedentary child needs less than the middle value and a very active one more. The table assumes moderate activity and does not account for illness, a medical condition or a growth concern.

A child is added to a household by age band only, with an optional sex. There is no weight, no height and no goal. The planner reads the table above, never applies a deficit and never offers a weight-loss mode for a child. The child's portion of a shared dish is scaled to their meal target, so a 4 to 8 year old gets a smaller plate of the same dinner the adults eat.

It does not cover babies and children under 2, who need individual guidance from a pediatrician, nor adults, for whom Mealyno uses a separate calculation from height, weight, age and activity. It is not a diagnosis and it does not tell you whether a child is underweight or overweight. Never put a child on a weight-loss plan without a doctor. Mealyno plans are general information, not medical advice.