Calorie question

jackies620

So, I'm new to counting calories and whatnot. MFP says my daily intake should be 1200 calories. Is this before exercise or after exercise? Not sure if I should consume 1200 total and then burn some of that away with exercise? Or should my total, at the end of the day, be 1200 including consumed calories AND burned calories?

AllOutof_Bubblegum

MFP is quite notorious for setting calorie goals FAR too low, regardless of height and weight. For example, it told me to eat 1200, and my BMR (the bare amount of calories I need to LIVE) is 1280. And I am extremely tiny, only 4’11 ½.
So unless you are smaller than me, or bedridden, it is almost a CERTAINTY that you are eating too little. (This can result in lean muscle loss, chronic fatigue, metabolism damage, and bingeing due to over-restriction.)

Go to

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

and enter your height/weight/activity level.

Subtract 10-20% from the number it calculates for you, and that is the number of calories you should be eating a day in order to lose weight. With this method you do not eat back your exercise calories, as they are already figured into your daily goal.

jackies620

Thank you! I'm 5'6" so I really don't think 1200 is enough! I'll check out that link!!

Machka9

My rest day total is 1250 ... so if I don't do any exercise, or very little, that's what I eat.

If I exercise, I tend to eat about half the amount I burn from exercise in addition to the 1250. So if I walk 60 min, that's about 200 calories burned ... therefore I would eat 1250 + 100 = 1350.

And I can tell you ... it works! 10 kg down in 2 months.


BTW - MFP tends to overestimate the number of calories burned, so you might have to manually adjust that.

TimothyFish

1200 assumes no exercise. If you log exercise in MFP, it will add calories to your goal. The number of calories is based on how quickly you told it you want to lose weight.

suruda

If you are older...not so active (not chasing after small children all day!) 1200 calories a day works fine. I choose to not eat back exercise calories (which would be over and above those 1200) unless I need to.