Help!! Calories Goal too high??

mrsbrown322

Hya, I am not sure how to get help with this .. I am overweight and trying to lose weight but exercising at same time.. I was talking to my coach today and he mentioned that I should be having around 360g of carbs, 150g Protein and 90g of fat per day. And I should be in the region of 2000 calories a day.
When I try to set my Goals at My fitness pal, if I put those macros in, it gives me 2890 calories to have per day (I had put in that I would do 7 workouts per week) --- Is this right? seems a lot when I am 200 pounds and want to lose some weight. If I take off the exercises planned for the week, I still get 2230 calories per day .. but that is not having exercises .. so confused.. Thanks so much x

tomcustombuilder

Your coach isn't much of an expert, apparently. Without context of your stats and lifestyle it's hard to give you a correct calorie amount however 2,890 will most likely cause weight gain instead of loss. 2,000 may even be too high.

The more fat you carry the bigger the deficit can be. Person A may lose at 2,000 and person B may gain at 2,000 even though they're the same size. Daily non exercise activity will be the biggest determining factor.

Then there is the accuracy factor. How accurate are you with counting? 2,000 can be much higher in reality if you're underestimating your intake.

cmriverside

2000 a day sounds like a reasonable start. Your trainer probably is including your exercises as part of that 2000.

You can go in to "Goals" and set your calories at 2000, and the goals wizard will calculate your macros at a rate of 50% Carbs, 30% Fat, and 20% Protein. Those macros will be fine. I agree with Tom that a trainer may or may not have a good grasp on what will work and how to set macros.

You will have to learn as you go, and experiment for a while to see if your logging, your activity, and your exercise are lining up to give you weight loss.

I lost most of my weight (from 220 to 140) at 1500-1600 base calories PLUS "Exercise Calories" added on (that's just the way I did it, myfitnesspal sets exercise as a separate line item.) That meant that on exercise days I was eating 1800-2000 total calories.

Try it. See how it goes. Adjust after a month if it isn't giving you the results you expect based on your numbers. That's kind of what we all have to do.

PAV8888

The macros you've given add up to to 2850 Cal a day; not 2890 or 2000.

Protein and carbs are 4 Cal per gram. Fat is 9 Cal per gram

If they don't add up to 2000 , then your coach is NOT asking you to eat 2000.

MFP, unless things have recently changed, does not take into account AT ALL how many times a day you say you will exercise. It asks and then does not do anything visible with the information

Exercise when logged as expected after it was performed adds calories to compensate for the extra energy spent thus helping you keep to your desired deficit. That's in everyday use after guided setup has been completed.

What you describe in terms of different goals based on exercise does not make sense. Sounds like you may be using a non MFP setup

If you want to setup your goals independently of MFP you can search for sail rabbit TDEE

Time to double check what inputs you're providing and where and with your coach on their advice

AnnPT77

I agree with Riverside and PAV overall, and agree with Riverside that 2000 might be fine. (Similar to her, I lost most of the weight from obese to healthy weight on 1400-1600 plus exercise, so upwards of 2000 or so most days, as a 5'5" woman, age 59-60, sedentary outside of intentional exercise, starting at 183 pounds, all the way down into the 120s. I admit I'm a better than average li'l ol' calorie burner for my age, but 2000 doesn't seem crazy to me. You look much younger, are a bit heavier, and quite possibly taller than me.) Depending on info I don't know (your job, home life, details of the exercise), even 2850 might work, though I'm more skeptical of that on the surface.

PAV mentioned Sailrabbit as a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculator to use as a double check. Here's the link:

https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

Are you an experienced exerciser, well conditioned? If so, 7 days a week may be fine. If more of a beginner, it could be excessive (fatiguing), which would be counterproductive, depending on what exercise type, intensity and duration you're doing. It can be a thing to work up to, if not conditioned to it now.

lynn_glenmont

Ask your coach how you're supposed to consume those macros (which total 2850 cals) and yet only consume 2000 calories.

kshama2001

mrsbrown322 wrote: »

Hya, I am not sure how to get help with this .. I am overweight and trying to lose weight but exercising at same time.. I was talking to my coach today and he mentioned that I should be having around 360g of carbs, 150g Protein and 90g of fat per day. And I should be in the region of 2000 calories a day.
When I try to set my Goals at My fitness pal, if I put those macros in, it gives me 2890 calories to have per day (I had put in that I would do 7 workouts per week) --- Is this right? seems a lot when I am 200 pounds and want to lose some weight. If I take off the exercises planned for the week, I still get 2230 calories per day .. but that is not having exercises .. so confused.. Thanks so much x

What are your coach's nutritional credentials?

If he is a coach for Herbalife or Beach Body, this doesn't require any legit credentials.

Lietchi

mrsbrown322 wrote: »

Hya, I am not sure how to get help with this .. I am overweight and trying to lose weight but exercising at same time.. I was talking to my coach today and he mentioned that I should be having around 360g of carbs, 150g Protein and 90g of fat per day. And I should be in the region of 2000 calories a day.
When I try to set my Goals at My fitness pal, if I put those macros in, it gives me 2890 calories to have per day (I had put in that I would do 7 workouts per week) --- Is this right? seems a lot when I am 200 pounds and want to lose some weight. If I take off the exercises planned for the week, I still get 2230 calories per day .. but that is not having exercises .. so confused.. Thanks so much x

I'm wondering if you simply misunderstood? 360gr of carbs seems quite a lot. With 160gr of carbs, 150gr of protein en 90gr of fat, you'd arrive at 2050 calories.

mrsbrown322

mrsbrown322

mrsbrown322

mrsbrown322

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. This is the form that my Triathlon coach sent me today to try to explain the amount of Carbs. I have also calculated my BMR and TDEE, thank you for sending me that form. I had done it before but now is different because I have put on weight and that form is really good.

So I am finding really confusing to input on MFP, if I put the exact grams of CPF then the calories go up. I have changed my profile to do no exercises and to loose 1.5lb per week to see if it helps.

If I change to put the calories at the top as 2141 (this is my TDEE less 10% deficite to lose weight) then my Macros change

mrsbrown322

He is a Triathlon coach so he is talking about needing Carbs for Endurance not to get too tired during the week.


What are your coach's nutritional credentials?

If he is a coach for Herbalife or Beach Body, this doesn't require any legit credentials.[/quote]

Lietchi

mrsbrown322 wrote: »

Huge math error for fat: they multiplied 89.8gr of fat by 4 instead of 9 to calculate the calories. It's 808 calories instead of 359.
Which makes the total calorie intake incorrect as well.

Lietchi

I'm going to give my 2 cents: that looks like a horrible way to calculate a calorie goal. Your body needs a certain amount of energy, not a certain amount of energy from carbs and a certain amount of energy from fat and a certain amount of energy from protein.

Calories determine what your weight does, so that's the starting point if you want to lose weight.
After your determine your calorie goal, that's when you split the available calories between the three macros.
Protein: protects you from muscle loss/helps build muscle and helps keep many people sated.
Fat: needed for certain bodily processes (hormones,...).
Carbs: not 'essential' in the sense that they supply energy and energy can also be supplied from fat and protein.

2000 calories sounds like a much more reasonable calorie goal for weight loss. I started at 94kgs and I'm 166cm, and I lost weight eating 1700 calories +exercise/activity calories. And that was in the context of fairly slow weight loss (0.5-1lb per week).

mrsbrown322

Ahh that was me!! So that will bring the totally amount of calories even higher.. So acccording to those calculations I should be on 2782 calories that is not too far off from what MPF calculates, but find it still so high .. maybe because I am overweight at the moment and each time I loose weight I have to adjust my calories .. I can only think its this

Huge math error for fat: they multiplied 89.8gr of fat by 4 instead of 9 to calculate the calories. It's 808 calories instead of 359.
Which makes the total calorie intake incorrect as well.[/quote]

mrsbrown322

Lietchi wrote: »

I'm going to give my 2 cents: that looks like a horrible way to calculate a calorie goal. Your body needs a certain amount of energy, not a certain amount of energy from carbs and a certain amount of energy from fat and a certain amount of energy from protein.

Calories determine what your weight does, so that's the starting point if you want to lose weight.
After your determine your calorie goal, that's when you split the available calories between the three macros.
Protein: protects you from muscle loss/helps build muscle and helps keep many people sated.
Fat: needed for certain bodily processes (hormones,...).
Carbs: not 'essential' in the sense that they supply energy and energy can also be supplied from fat and protein.

2000 calories sounds like a much more reasonable calorie goal for weight loss. I started at 94kgs and I'm 166cm, and I lost weight eating 1700 calories +exercise/activity calories. And that was in the context of fairly slow weight loss (0.5-1lb per week).

Thanks so much for sharing your story, yes it makes a lot of sense what you have done

Lietchi

mrsbrown322 wrote: »

Ahh that was me!! So that will bring the totally amount of calories even higher.. So acccording to those calculations I should be on 2782 calories that is not too far off from what MPF calculates, but find it still so high .. maybe because I am overweight at the moment and each time I loose weight I have to adjust my calories .. I can only think its this

Sorry for the harsh reaction then

What activity level and weight loss rate are you entering for MFP? Because 2700 calories sounds quite high.
MFP's activity level is meant to not include exercise (only daily activity: work, commute, housework, hobbies...) - exercise should be added separately on days when you do it and will then increase your goal.
What exercise are you doing?

ddsb1111

I’m having trouble seeing how you could be burning an additional 1,247 calories a day. I thought the original extra 800 was too high for weight loss.

When I calculated it for myself it was accurate as long as I worked out for an hour a day, which would put me at 1,696 calories, but this would be to maintain, not lose weight. 🤔

Maybe it needs a step 4: Deficit. This is where you take your TDEE calories and subtract 500- 750 calories (if very over weight) from your TDEE. That would put you right around 2000 calories. But then you’d have to do your macros all over again. This is overly confusing.

ddsb1111

This is what I see when I put your stats in sailrabbit (moderately active as noted)

TDEE- 2384 calories daily
1.5 lb deficit per week= 1634 calories daily


TDEE- 2384 calories daily
1 lb deficit per week= 1894 calories daily


Just for reference, you're about the same height as I am and can have nearly 1000 calories more than I can at your TDEE so I would caution increasing your calories to that 2800. That seems to be highly counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve.

springlering62

Judging from your bicep photo and the fact that you are training for a triathlon, I’m guessing you’re pretty active.

I started MFP at 225 at age 56. I originally set a flat calorie goal of 1470, within two months my dietician suggested 1700, and upon starting training about six months in, my trainer had me increase to 1900 and then 2170.

I still lost weight steadily at that goal, because I had gradually increased activity level.

In fact, I dropped too low, lost muscle, and had to increase daily calorie goal, and shoot for a higher weight just to not look sickly.

As an almost 62 year old woman, I maintain easily averaging 2800-3000/day because of my activity level. And I am in no way training for a marathon.

It’s entirely possible to need a high calorie goal as an older active woman, even in the weight loss phase.

You obviously hired this trainer because you have faith in them. I trusted mine enough to ask questions- a lot of them, since movement and calorie restriction were so new to my previously sedentary, obese world.

If you’ve got a question, or reservations, just ask.

Likewise, my trainer knows and trusts me enough to know when it’s simply whining (🤬 six rounds of battle ropes this morning and she knows how I hate them) versus stepping back when genuinely needed (I reeled in a shoulder move this morning while training because I could feel the impingement on one side at the peak of the movement).

You and your trainer should be a team, and there should be give and take and questions and answers.