Huge amount of calories

Lydilod

I've set MFP so that I eat 1200 calories a day with the intension of eating back my exercise calories. I spend on average 3hours a day at the gym so my calorie burn can add up to quite a lot. The idea of eating thousands of calories terrifies my, surely I'll gain weight.
I try to at least eat 1500-1600 calories and sometime I do go over, (chocolate). My weight loss isn't spectacular I've lost 10 pound so far (since Jan11 2016). Am I doing the right thing?

chandanista

I'd eat more than 1600 if I were working out 3 hours/day. What are your stats and how long did it take to lose those 10?

Lydilod

I'm 44 year old female
5foot 4 and 187 pound.
It's taken me 6 weeks to loose 10 pound

StaciMarie1974

Losing 10 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty good! If you eat an additional 100-200 per day it won't slow your loss by much. If you feel energetic and satisfied on 1600 then keep at it. If you have a day where you feel you need more, listen to your body.

malibu927

You're losing about a pound and a half a week, which is a great rate. Sounds like you're doing just fine!

shadow2soul

That's actually a decent rate of loss. That's like 1.66 lbs per week.

Depending on how your estimating your calorie burn and intake, things could be slightly off on both ends. Right now though, 1.6 lbs per week is actually a healthy rate of loss.

If you don't use a food scale, you might want to consider it. A lot of times people drastically underestimate what they are actually consuming. (watch video below if you want to see why food scales are often recommended around here....not that you need to get one, but it's something to consider)

Any reason you are spending 3 hours a day in the gym? I can't imagine being able to keep a high intensity workout going for that long. Oh and don't rely on gym equipment for calorie burns, it can often be overestimated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU

Lydilod

I do use a food scale, so my diets not a problem as such, I just don't want to get it wrong and mess everything up.
I do sometimes get tired but I love the gym I get board if I'm not there.
I'm also training for Duathlon/triathlon, just on a small scale (super sprint) I've been spending 3 hours at the gym for nearly two years now and do a huge variety of classes from pilates and swimming to spinning bodycombat and running.
I do have a problem calculating calories burned, I do trust "strava" for running and my bike and I usually just cut MFP total in half or reduce down the length of time. Not sure if that correct.
As I'm typing this I'm starting to think that I'm probably just looking for reassurance.
Thank you everyone for your replies

AnnPT77

Lydilod wrote: »

I'm 44 year old female
5foot 4 and 187 pound.
It's taken me 6 weeks to loose 10 pound

You're doing great. I started about where you are (SW 183) at 5'5", and ate 1200 net only for a very short time: It was too low, and unnecessary. CW is around 122, and I started in April 2015. (And I'm 60 years old, besides.)

Definitely eat back at least some exercise calories - maybe all the ones from strava, and half of MFP's, and see how it goes. You need to fuel your workouts! You can always re-adjust if you don't like the results.

Sometimes I think that TV shows like Biggest Loser, and magazine/web articles, have given people ridiculous ideas of what constitutes a sensible, adequate rate of weight loss. 10 pounds in 6 weeks is great, and the closer you get to goal, the slower it's better to lose. Something like 1% of bodyweight per week is conservative.

Lydilod

Thanks Ann