confused on how may calories to eat to lose weight
Replies
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Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP doesn't include exercise in their calculation where TDEE does. That is why you get calories to eat back when you enter your exercise.
OK but isn't your "base calories" what your BMR is about? I thought you should eat your BMR calories, like mine is around 1360 or does that have nothing to do with it? Otherwise, I would be eating less than my BMR at 1200 and that would be unhealthy, right? that's how I understood it... I actually lost more weight with eating more calories than what MFP recommends0 -
Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP doesn't include exercise in their calculation where TDEE does. That is why you get calories to eat back when you enter your exercise.
OK but isn't your "base calories" what your BMR is about? I thought you should eat your BMR calories, like mine is around 1360 or does that have nothing to do with it? Otherwise, I would be eating less than my BMR at 1200 and that would be unhealthy, right? that's how I understood it... I actually lost more weight with eating more calories than what MFP recommends
MFP is just a calculator...you still have to provide the brains...mfp is just calculating your calories as per the information you put in and your stats...it's one of the reasons why 2 Lbs per week is not a realistic goal for many people.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP is a NEAT method calculator, not a TDEE calculator. A TDEE calculator is going to include an estimate of exercise in your activity level and thus an estimate of those calorie requirements. With the NEAT method, your activity level only includes your day to day hum drum...exercise is an "extra" activity that you log and then get those calories.
When I did MFP, my net calorie goal was 1800 to lose 1 Lb per week...with regular exercise I was regularly eating a gross of 2200 - 2300 calories per day. When I became more consistent in my workouts I switched methods so that I could just eat the same amount every day and my target was around 2250 daily with a 20% cut from my TDEE of 2800. Basically 6 of 1, half dozen of the other...the problem is that people don't even compare apples to apples rate of loss goals and on top of that, people seemed to be baffled by exercise and why you would want to account for that activity somewhere.
Yeah, it does get confusing on whether to eat back exercise calories or not... I've heard both sides of it. I guess whatever works for you!0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP is a NEAT method calculator, not a TDEE calculator. A TDEE calculator is going to include an estimate of exercise in your activity level and thus an estimate of those calorie requirements. With the NEAT method, your activity level only includes your day to day hum drum...exercise is an "extra" activity that you log and then get those calories.
When I did MFP, my net calorie goal was 1800 to lose 1 Lb per week...with regular exercise I was regularly eating a gross of 2200 - 2300 calories per day. When I became more consistent in my workouts I switched methods so that I could just eat the same amount every day and my target was around 2250 daily with a 20% cut from my TDEE of 2800. Basically 6 of 1, half dozen of the other...the problem is that people don't even compare apples to apples rate of loss goals and on top of that, people seemed to be baffled by exercise and why you would want to account for that activity somewhere.
Yeah, it does get confusing on whether to eat back exercise calories or not... I've heard both sides of it. I guess whatever works for you!
MFP method: eat back exercise calories. The consensus seems to be to eat back about 50% of calories burned, and then adjust accordingly, depending on your results.
TDEE: do not eat them back, because you take them into account when you determine TDEE. But you still may need to do some adjusting to get activity level correct.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP is a NEAT method calculator, not a TDEE calculator. A TDEE calculator is going to include an estimate of exercise in your activity level and thus an estimate of those calorie requirements. With the NEAT method, your activity level only includes your day to day hum drum...exercise is an "extra" activity that you log and then get those calories.
When I did MFP, my net calorie goal was 1800 to lose 1 Lb per week...with regular exercise I was regularly eating a gross of 2200 - 2300 calories per day. When I became more consistent in my workouts I switched methods so that I could just eat the same amount every day and my target was around 2250 daily with a 20% cut from my TDEE of 2800. Basically 6 of 1, half dozen of the other...the problem is that people don't even compare apples to apples rate of loss goals and on top of that, people seemed to be baffled by exercise and why you would want to account for that activity somewhere.
Yeah, it does get confusing on whether to eat back exercise calories or not... I've heard both sides of it. I guess whatever works for you!
It's not a matter of "what works"...there are two methods...TDEE and NEAT...with TDEE, exercise is included up front...with NEAT it is accounted for on the *kitten* end when you log it. It's not more complicated than that and I honestly don't understand how people are so baffled by it. The only thing that is difficult with NEAT (MFP) is figuring out a decent estimate of calories burned, but really, there are a lot of sources out there for which people could come to some reasonable estimate...but lazy I suppose.
Learning to properly fuel your fitness is actually pretty important for fitness performance and recovery and health in general. Exercise is very good for you...but it is also a stress on the body, particularly if you're working hard. Your body requires energy (calories) and nutrients to recover. Proper recovery is how you avoid injury and make fitness gains.0 -
Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP doesn't include exercise in their calculation where TDEE does. That is why you get calories to eat back when you enter your exercise.
OK but isn't your "base calories" what your BMR is about? I thought you should eat your BMR calories, like mine is around 1360 or does that have nothing to do with it? Otherwise, I would be eating less than my BMR at 1200 and that would be unhealthy, right? that's how I understood it... I actually lost more weight with eating more calories than what MFP recommends
No, your BMR is basically what would keep you alive if all you did is lay on the couch all day. Many have a goal somewhere between TDEE and BMR. For some people though, that doesn't leave much room for error so they aim for closer to BMR with their goal.0 -
Your BMR is more important...it's what your body uses to burn energy naturally, with no exercise. I have a similar TDEE as you (around 1860), and my BMR is 1360... With no exercise, I can eat that much and still be in 500 calorie deficit (to burn a pound a week).
Your TDEE is the MOST you could eat, without gaining weight.
To LOSE weight, you have to eat less than that. MFP does 1200 calories a day as a general guide for weight loss (and yes you can eat back exercise calories)
All I'm saying is that you can eat a little more if you want and still lose weight! lol but it's up to you...both methods work. If you do your BMR, you can still eat back half of your exercise calories too.
MFP does not do 1200 calories as a general guide for weight loss. It's a calculator. A person enters their stats and goals, MFP calculates the users daily TDEE and subtracts from that to meet the goal the person enters. 1200 is also where MFP bottoms out. In this case, as pointed out earlier, for the OP to meet their goal they would need to eat 877 calories per day. MFP won't go that low, so it displays the default basement (1200).
Sorry for the misinformation. Now I am confused myself . lol Then why does MFP give different numbers than a TDEE calculator? Someone told me about the iifym.com website and it worked for me. I've heard people say that MFP is not accurate . I know 1200 is the minimum anybody should eat...not talking about that. lol
MFP doesn't include exercise in their calculation where TDEE does. That is why you get calories to eat back when you enter your exercise.
OK but isn't your "base calories" what your BMR is about? I thought you should eat your BMR calories, like mine is around 1360 or does that have nothing to do with it? Otherwise, I would be eating less than my BMR at 1200 and that would be unhealthy, right? that's how I understood it... I actually lost more weight with eating more calories than what MFP recommends
No, your BMR is basically what would keep you alive if all you did is lay on the couch all day. Many have a goal somewhere between TDEE and BMR. For some people though, that doesn't leave much room for error so they aim for closer to BMR with their goal.
ohhhhh hmm. i suppose that makes sense then . thanks for clarifying !
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