Do I really need to eat this much?????

juliebeth913

Hello! I am new here and have a question about my calorie goals. I am an endurance athlete (triathlon and running) and I am trying to lose a
the 20 lbs I have gained over the past 2.5 years. I am doing this mostly for increased athletic perfomance and somewat to look better. I feel fit and healthy amd don't need any motivation to workout. I attribute my weight gain to overeating and thinking (incorrectly, despite what others say) that I can eat whatever I want because I burn a lot of calories.
My calorie goal is currentaly set at 1985, which freeks me out a bit because seems high. I am female 5'4" 40 years old and 160lbs, and I typically put in 13-15 hours of training a week. My question is if I burn 1500-ish calories a day do I really need to eat all 3500 calories a day!?!? That is way more than I ever eat. I am sure a million people before me have asked this question so I am curious to hear from anyone in a similar situation. Am I hanging on to weight because I am not eating enough (I have heard this theory but I don't really buy it) or am I eating too much and will eating 3500 calories a day continue to pack on the pounds?

AmyRhubarb

For the amount of working out you're doing, the 1985 goal seems reasonable to me. I'm taller (5'8") and 46 years old, and work out maybe 5-6 hours a week at the most, and I lose on 1800-2000 cals a day.

I'd say be as accurate as possible with intake and burns - weigh and measure foods, and use a HRM or other reliable tracker to estimate your calorie burns, and see how you do for 4-6 weeks.

As far as eating 3500 cals a day due to a 1500 exercise burn (and assuming all your numbers are accurate), you could go or calorie dense foods - nuts, avocados, full fat dairy, olive & coconut oils, etc. to help get the cals in without having to eat a ton.

PAV8888

Check out: http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/

and

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

A quick look at the scoobysworkshop.com calculator makes me think that 3500 is a possible over-estimation of your TDEE, perhaps one based on a lot of extra training on a particular day.

The answer to your question is that it depends on how you configure things and how predictably you live!

Do you consistently move about the same throughout the day, exercise in a consistent manner and can come up with a good average TDEE? Then you can ignore everything else and just eat at a discount off of your TDEE.

But, if like most people, you are using MFP (and/or other web sites, activity trackers, exercise logs) to track exercise separately from a lower "base" activity level that does not include purposeful exercise, then you should probably add back SOME of your exercise calories.

Zedeff

Eat enough to be satisfied, not in any discomfort from chronic subjective hunger, and to make the diet sustainable day in, day out until you reach your goal. If fewer than 1900 calories meets those criteria then there's no reason to force yourself to eat more.