calories help!

nic041mccoy

Thanks everyone for the help. Since I started on MFP I lost 15 lbs. It came off pretty quick but could have just been water weight. Who knows! So I changed my weight on here today and it up'd my calorie in take. So the more I lose the more calories I should eat a day? It seems strange to me! But I'm a beginner so I'm lost with all of this! Lol

middlehaitch

Unless your daily activities are more than an office type job/retail, daily housework, child care, and shopping, you should be set at sedentary.
You then eat back your exercise calories. If you are entering them in MFP only eat back 50-75% as they are overestimated.

Start by losing .5 lbs a week, when you have adjusted to those calories and have got the hang of weighing and measuring ALL your food and drink, (a week or two) drop to 1lbs a week. You could drop to 1.5 lbs if you feel like you are getting enough food.

Don't forget to eat back exercise calories.

Cheers, h.

nic041mccoy

I had it set to sedentary but it had me at 1200 calories a day which seemed quite low. I work out about 3 days a week for 40-60 minutes.can I count that as "lightly active?"

middlehaitch wrote: »

Unless your daily activities are more than an office type job/retail, daily housework, child care, and shopping, you should be set at sedentary.
You then eat back your exercise calories. If you are entering them in MFP only eat back 50-75% as they are overestimated.

Start by losing .5 lbs a week, when you have adjusted to those calories and have got the hang of weighing and measuring ALL your food and drink, (a week or two) drop to 1lbs a week. You could drop to 1.5 lbs if you feel like you are getting enough food.

Don't forget to eat back exercise calories.

Cheers, h.

try2again

nic041mccoy wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the help. Since I started on MFP I lost 15 lbs. It came off pretty quick but could have just been water weight. Who knows! So I changed my weight on here today and it up'd my calorie in take. So the more I lose the more calories I should eat a day? It seems strange to me! But I'm a beginner so I'm lost with all of this! Lol

No, as you lose weight, your calories will be further reduced, unless you change your goal or activity level. This is why it's helpful not to eat at a rock-bottom calorie level right off the bat.

try2again

nic041mccoy wrote: »

I had it set to sedentary but it had me at 1200 calories a day which seemed quite low. I work out about 3 days a week for 40-60 minutes.can I count that as "lightly active?"

middlehaitch wrote: »

Unless your daily activities are more than an office type job/retail, daily housework, child care, and shopping, you should be set at sedentary.
You then eat back your exercise calories. If you are entering them in MFP only eat back 50-75% as they are overestimated.

Start by losing .5 lbs a week, when you have adjusted to those calories and have got the hang of weighing and measuring ALL your food and drink, (a week or two) drop to 1lbs a week. You could drop to 1.5 lbs if you feel like you are getting enough food.

Don't forget to eat back exercise calories.

Cheers, h.

Your activity level DOES NOT include exercise. When you log exercise, MFP will credit you with additional calories to use based on that exercise. Since these exercise burns are often inflated, it's wise not to eat back more than half the calories.

nic041mccoy

Do you think I can count 3 days a week of 40-60 minute cardio as "lightly active"? That's what I have it set to now.

try2again wrote: »

nic041mccoy wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the help. Since I started on MFP I lost 15 lbs. It came off pretty quick but could have just been water weight. Who knows! So I changed my weight on here today and it up'd my calorie in take. So the more I lose the more calories I should eat a day? It seems strange to me! But I'm a beginner so I'm lost with all of this! Lol

No, as you lose weight, your calories will be further reduced, unless you change your goal or activity level. This is why it's helpful not to eat at a rock-bottom calorie level right off the bat.

middlehaitch

Set it to sedentary, and eat back your exercise calories.
Aim for a lower loss per week.

Cheers, h.

try2again

try2again wrote: »

nic041mccoy wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the help. Since I started on MFP I lost 15 lbs. It came off pretty quick but could have just been water weight. Who knows! So I changed my weight on here today and it up'd my calorie in take. So the more I lose the more calories I should eat a day? It seems strange to me! But I'm a beginner so I'm lost with all of this! Lol

No, as you lose weight, your calories will be further reduced, unless you change your goal or activity level. This is why it's helpful not to eat at a rock-bottom calorie level right off the bat.

To clarify, 1200 calories is the lowest number of calories MFP gives a woman- anything below that makes it nearly impossible to get proper nutrition and your body will suffer. If you set your goal at 2 lbs/week, you will be at this rock bottom limit. If you set it at 1 lb/week, likely your calories will be higher initially and then later after you've lost weight, you'll be able to reduce to 1200 and it won't be such a difficult transition right off the bat.

Christine_72

Do not set it as lightly active if your everyday life is not lightly active. That's just cheating

Your activity level does NOT include exercise.

Example: There are many days of the week that I walk around 10 miles, I exercise 7 days a week. I'm still set at sedentary, because other than exercise, I am.

Hawkian

nic041mccoy wrote: »

Do you think I can count 3 days a week of 40-60 minute cardio as "lightly active"? That's what I have it set to now.

What you want to be doing is logging those workouts. You'll see how the calories are added back to your "bank" for the day.