Working out calories

AmyWhitty

Hi

Just looking for some help on how to work out my calories. My fitness pal is coming out with 1200

I run 3/4 times a week but I don't want to eat back my exercise calories.

Is the 1200 number plus exercise?

Confused

I am 5ft 4 and weigh 143.5

Many thanks

beastmode_kitty

What is your goal? How much are you looking to lose?

AmyWhitty

I'm looking to lose 19 lbs

beastmode_kitty

What do you have MFP set at?? I have mine set at losing 1lb a week and lightly active. I only eat back exercise cals if I feel i need them. If i'm not hungry then I don't eat. Or I try to eat more calorie dense foods.

AmyWhitty

Set it to lose 2lb a week with active activity level which is giving me 1200 cals

AmyWhitty

Does this sound right? I am currently following ww but can't help thinking I need to be tracking my fruit and veg intake!

JennieMaeK

beastmode_kitty wrote: »

What do you have MFP set at?? I have mine set at losing 1lb a week and lightly active. I only eat back exercise cals if I feel i need them. If i'm not hungry then I don't eat. Or I try to eat more calorie dense foods.

My settings are the same. I lose on average 1.1 lbs a week.

With only 19 lbs to lose, 2 lbs week weight loss might be too aggressive. You should eat back at least some of your exercise calories to ensure that your body is getting enough calories to give you energy for your runs.

I know weight watchers assumes you'll eat a lot of fruit/veggies and factors that into your points. If you're not counting points, but counting calories, you'll want to include everything you eat.

How are your energy levels? Do you feel satisfied on 1200 calories?

AmyWhitty

I've not started yet I am considering my fitness pal. I think even if I change to lose 1.5 it still gives me 1200. I just don't like eating Back exercise calories as I feel you can't accurately know how much you are burning.

TavistockToad

Why don't you want to eat your exercise cals?

AmyWhitty

Never have done and I like I said you can never be certain how much you have burnt off

AmyWhitty

Don't see exercise as a means to eat if that makes sense

besaro

i guess it depends on how long you run. if you're only running 2/3 miles thats probably a burn of 170-300 calories, still it puts you below 1000 a day which many people will say is too low to operate on for very long. But to answer your question, no, 1200 is without exercise. With a HRM you can actually get a fairly good idea (not perfect) of how much you burn.

TavistockToad

AmyWhitty wrote: »

Never have done and I like I said you can never be certain how much you have burnt off

Then you need to work out your calorie goal using TDEE not mfp as mfp expects you to eat exercise cals back.

AmyWhitty

I Been running 5-7.5 miles. Thanks for your help everyone I will work out my TDEE and adjust MFP

auntiebabs

AmyWhitty wrote: »

Set it to lose 2lb a week with active activity level which is giving me 1200 cals

2 lbs a week seems like a lot to expect when you are less than 20 lbs away from your goal.

Weighing 175 I started @ 1 lb a week, when I got to 155 I stepped it back to .5 lb a week and wished I'd slowed it down sooner. It's not about how fast you can take it off, but how long you can keep it off.

After a considerable hiatus from MFP the weight was slowly creeping back....
This time my strategy is even slower.

I've set my goal to the maintenance calories for my GOAL weight - 200, so that I have 1400 extra calories to play with when something unexpected comes up. Whether it's an unexpected invitation, stress eating or and business lunch.... One thing I've learned is something always comes up.

Relearning how to eat to lose and then relearning again to maintain was way harder than I expected.
So I figured this time I'd go straight to maintenance for my goal weight and only have to relearn how to eat ONCE!

GOOD LUCK!

AmyWhitty

Aww thank you for that x