Confused at how much to eat and should I eat back my exercise?

jahmanrv

I am so confused at this point as to how many calories I should eat. I've gone to several sites to plug in my numbers and get such varying answers. On MFP, I've set my goals and they say to eat 1200 per day. Then when I add in my exercise it jumps to 1800 calories. I have not been eating back my workouts as I know the numbers here and on machines as to how many calories are skewed. Question is, will only eating the 1200 be okay with the amount I work out? Workout routine is 5 days a week. Cardio 4 days, Strength training 2 days of those 5 days a week.
I no longer eat processed food and have cut down my sugar intake. This has helped with my migraines that I was having and stomach issues, so will stick with that.
Just don't want to eat to little and then have the fat stored cause it thinks I'm starving myself.
Here is a sample of my meal yesterday.
Workout: Weights: 30 mins. Cardio 4.10 miles on elliptical
Breakfast: Greek Yogurt with fresh pineapple
Glass of Almond Breeze Milk
Before Workout: Green Shake (Kale, Spinach and various fruits)

Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad homemade (Spinach, Iceberg, brocolli, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and avocado) with tbls of Honey Mustard Dressing

Snack: Granny Smith Apple with a little Almond Butter

Dinner: 1 Swai Fillet with grilled mango and steamed asparagus.

I was stuffed and no room to add more, and that was totaling 1284 calories. I'm losing but only .5 a week. Any advice would be appreciated.

esjones12

1200 is the minimum you should be netting, as recommended by most health care professionals. That is what your body NEEDS to function properly each day. So if that is your base, then yes you need to eat back your exercise calories because your net will then be under 1200. Use a heart rate monitor to get a more accurate calorie burn. If you are not far from your goal weight then yes, you should only be losing .5lb per week. That is a healthy loss rate. Just keep measuring and logging your food and you will get where you want to go.

StaciMarie1974

Why not find a middle ground? Eat 1/2 of your earned exercise calories? You might feel fine on what you're doing, or more likely you'll feel burned out/fatiqued.

Of course, also consider how well you're calculating your calories. If using a food scale and being very detailed, you probably need more. If estimating, you're probably already eating more.

StaciMarie1974

Ps-losing at .5 pound a week when you have 24 pounds to go: not bad. You may not have realistic expectations? What is your BMR? How active are you in a typical day? The total amount of energy you expend in a day kind of sets a limit to how quickly you can realistically expect to lose weight.

jahmanrv

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Ps-losing at .5 pound a week when you have 24 pounds to go: not bad. You may not have realistic expectations? What is your BMR? How active are you in a typical day? The total amount of energy you expend in a day kind of sets a limit to how quickly you can realistically expect to lose weight.

I have 40 pounds to lose. I have already lost 15 at the rate of .5. I'm pretty active all day. If I'm not at the gym and working on my computer, I stand and work on computer. I also stand and watch TV and walk in place while doing that at least during the day. At night, I do relax.

I was weighing my food with my hand, meaning palm, tips of fingers etc. I've recently bought a digital scale to confirm my accuracy. I guess it couldn't hurt to eat half of the exercise calories back and see how that goes. Just so afraid of putting weight back on. All this weight came from my breaking both my ankles at the same time and being unable to do anything for almost a year. Got depressed and just starting pigging out.

StaciMarie1974

Before changing food intake levels, do use the food scale to assess where you are. If you're losing steadily & feeling good in terms of activity level, then you may not need to add more. And without using a scale, you're easily 10-50% off in your #s. Even pre-packaged food - something as simple as bread slices - is usually off by 10% minimum. Such as the serving may be 41g for 2 slices, but weighed out its 46. Those bits add up.

The reason I mentioned BMR, and I am not trying to be mean, but as women we simply do not burn that much. I don't know your full stats, but I ran age 54/height 5'5"/weight 170 thru a BMR calculator and came out with 1450ish. For lightly active, 1885 per day. Plus 200-400 for 30-45 minute cardio session. Your actual #s may be a little higher or lower, of course. Note: during cardio, we typically do not burn as much as we think we do...

esjones12

I agree your calorie intake should be higher than 1200, run the numbers and set for -1lb per week. Start measuring your food with a scale. I would bet your are eating more than 1200 calories before. In reality you could be eating 1400-1800 and losing that .5 per week and you may not need to be adjusting much at all!

Bottom line: You need more accurate numbers.

And btw, big props for your choices in food. I'm a big fan of whole natural foods. You will get more bang for your calories for sure

jahmanrv

Thanks ladies, this has been quite helpful.
BTW. I'm 54, Height 5'4' and 176
I've gotten 1400 - 1800 one calculator....One told me to eat 2000 calories, one was at 1600 - 2000. Thus causing all this confusion.

I do think I will invest in a good heart rate monitor as those on the gym equipment is never accurate either.