Calorie/Water Question

Losingweight1983

So, according to MFP, I should be eating 2080 calories a day. However, according to my doctor, I should be eating around 1800 calories a day. I went in and changed my calorie goal to reflect what my doctor told me. The question I have is this: should I be eating all of them or should I have a 200 calorie deficit? When I do cardio (elliptical for 30 minutes on either Interval or Weight Loss setting), I tend to burn around 400 calories. Should I take that into consideration on my calories or what? I'm new to tracking my calories so I am still getting used to it. Yesterday, because I didn't do cardio, I wound up going over by 400 calories. I only did 30 minutes of strength training. Also, how much water should I be drinking? Right now, I tend to drink around 9 cups of water per day plus any other liquid (tea, juice, milk).

SugarySweetheart

My doctor said to eat 1400 calories a day and that's exactly what I try to eat everyday. Some days I'm shy of the total or some days I go over but I try to stay in that range. I do NOT eat my exercise calories, the fat I'm trying to burn off my body.

I hope you're successful in your goals.

frando

Personally I don't eat my exercise calories unless I'm going to some event and want to cushion the predictable over eating.

MFP generally builds in a 500 calorie deficit unless you other wise ask it to, which is widely accepted as a healthy amount. Which you have in this case, without knowing your basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories you'd need to maintain your current weight) it's hard to say if using your exercise calories is doing you harm.

Assuming your doctor gave you your basal rate minus 500 calories it'd work out as 2300- that is the number you need to maintain, thus eating more will cause you to gain weight (if you keep eating at that rate).

In regards to liquid in take, MFP advises 8 cups of water. I take that to mean tea, coffee, and squash. Fizzy things, milk, and juice I don't count to my water count- which I do off of MFP to be honest so it must think I'm dehydrated as *kitten* xD

The main thing is to monitor what you are eating, cutting your calories intake to something sustainable, and continuing to exercise.

Most of all...

DaniCanadian

Hi there :-) I'd say stick to reaching your 1800 Cals per day as your doc said. If you do eat back exercise Cals then only eat 25-50% of them. Most machines will overestimate what you burn.
Also, just drink water when you're thirsty. Some days I'll drink 2L while others I'll drink more like 4L. Your body is pretty good at letting you know what it needs.

DaniCanadian

Oh and if you don't have one yet, get a digital food scale ($10-20). Weigh all foods that you consume, even oils or condiments. Measuring cups and spoons aren't very accurate for portion size

Losingweight1983

DaniCanadian wrote: »

Oh and if you don't have one yet, get a digital food scale ($10-20). Weigh all foods that you consume, even oils or condiments. Measuring cups and spoons aren't very accurate for portion size

I have a food scale and I've been using it.

DeficitDuchess

You should eat back at least half of your exercise calories because otherwise you'd possibly be under eating, since this website is designed for you to eat them back. However calorie burns from exercise're typically inaccurate, on the high side; so that's why you shouldn't eat them all back.

Drink what you feel is necessary, it's a myth that we all need 8 cups daily. Some of us need more or less & the water from absorption of cooked foods, such as: pasta, soup, etc., counts towards the amount; that you consume.

kimny72

It kind of depends on how your doctor came up with your 1800 calorie goal. I would check with your doctor's office, if you are going to follow their calorie advice. Until then, I'd say eat the 1800 and if you are still hungry on days you exercise, eat a little extra.

But if your goal is 1800, you should generally eat 1800, not less than 1800. Your doctor should have figured the deficit you need into that number. Hope I'm understanding your question, and hope that makes sense!

Psychgrrl

You could ask your doctor how s/he calculated the calorie amount. If they used TDEE, they figured exercise in and that could account for the difference. MFP uses NEAT, which does not figure in exercise, only basic daily activity level (in that case, exercise calories would be additional).

How you entered in your activity level (sedentary, lightly active, etc.), and your rate of weight loss, your starting weight and height all makes a difference in how the numbers look at the end.

amusedmonkey

You don't really need to stress about exact numbers. Just pick one, MFP or your doctor's, and stick to it for a while and see how your weight loss goes. After a month re-evaluate and see if you need to increase/decrease your calories or tighten up your logging. Keep in mind if you use your doctor's value you would need to re-evaluate your number every time you lose a good amount of weight. As you lose weight your body gets smaller and requires fewer calories to operate, causing your weight loss to slow down. If you go with MFP's suggestion it will adjust your calories based on you logged weight automatically. Make sure your activity level is set to sedentary unless your daily job or non-exercise lifestyle is physically demanding.

As for exercise, same thing. Pick a number between 0%-100% to eat back and stick to it for a while then see how if you are losing the expected amount you are supposed to be losing a month. If not, adjust up/down accordingly.

Personally, I drink water when I'm thirsty and I don't count it. It has little to do with weight loss unless you use calorific drinks to quench your thirst.

Simplify as the process as much as possible and don't get lost in details because the easier the process feels the more likely you are to stick to it. All you need to know for now is that it's best to log every single thing you eat, and that weighing solid foods is more accurate than measuring.

Losingweight1983

Another question: For calories, if I go by what MFP says, for activity level and working out 5 days a week for 45-60 minutes a day, what should I put...not very active, lightly active, active, or very active?

singingflutelady

Your activity level doesn't take into account your meaningful exercise. It has more to do with your job, home life etc, etc.

kimny72

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

Another question: For calories, if I go by what MFP says, for activity level and working out 5 days a week for 45-60 minutes a day, what should I put...not very active, lightly active, active, or very active?

Activity level is for non-exercise activities, like a physical job or if you walk everywhere instead of driving. Or you have a toddler! Exercise would be logged separately.

Christine_72

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

Another question: For calories, if I go by what MFP says, for activity level and working out 5 days a week for 45-60 minutes a day, what should I put...not very active, lightly active, active, or very active?

Exercise is not included in your activity level, it gets added separately. I walk around 15kms a day 7 days a week, but I've set mfp to sedentary, because it's all intentional exercise. Plus I have my fitbit synced with mfp which adds those exercise calories automatically.

If you have a sit down office job, you'd be sedentary. If you have a job that requires lots of walking around or lifting etc, you'd be lightly active.

Losingweight1983

Ok so MFP says that my calorie goal is 1800. I didn't eat breakfast (woke up wayy too late) and my lunch was 592 calories so I have 1208 remaining. My husband is making his Tomato/Bacon Pasta meal for dinner. Do I add all the ingredients together and then how do I figure out the total calories per serving? I've always had problems with this section.

singingflutelady

yes

tiddolski

You can create recipes on MFP I usually do that when I want to know exactly what I'm having.

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

Ok so MFP says that my calorie goal is 1800. I didn't eat breakfast (woke up wayy too late) and my lunch was 592 calories so I have 1208 remaining. My husband is making his Tomato/Bacon Pasta meal for dinner. Do I add all the ingredients together and then how do I figure out the total calories per serving? I've always had problems with this section.

Food scales help

Losingweight1983

singingflutelady wrote: »

yes

How do figure out the serving part?

singingflutelady

Do you have a food scale?

DeficitDuchess

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

singingflutelady wrote: »

yes

How do figure out the serving part?

The serving depends upon how many calories you have left and/or are willing to spend, on that particular food. Think of your calories, as a daily bank account & if you want more calories/money, then you have to earn it; via exercise/job.

singingflutelady

Weigh all the ingredients and figure out the calories for each and add them to the recipe builder. Weigh your portion and figure out the percentage as compared to the while thing and voila you can figure out the calories

ogtmama

Divide the full meal into what YOU will eat as a portion regularly and then weigh your plate, that way you won't suffer from portion creep...or disappointment at a half full plate.

I would keep activity level on not very active and add all your activities...better to forget to log something you did than get credit for something you didn't.

You only have to drink when you are thirsty...number of glasses of water was debunked...and all liquids other than booze count as well as water dense foods.

Congratulations on starting!

godlikepoetyes

When I cook a recipe, I find one that is very clear about servings--look online. Many will give you the serving size in grams. From there, use the recipe builder and stick to the recipe. OR, build your own recipes. I do this often and do have to estimate how many servings--you will get used to this. As a general rule, I overestimate rather than underestimate. As far as the activity level goes, set it at "sedentary" to start. Most of us are sedentary, even if we get regular exercise.

It takes time to get used to MFP, how it works. There are some visual cues for serving sizes--3 oz. of meat is a deck of cards, 1 tablespoon is the size of your thumb. These cues will NOT take the place of weighing your food, but will get you into the mindset of what a portion looks like. I eat off of small plates or saucers. I bought some tiny bowls for ice cream, etc.

Good luck. This program works for most of us. You'll figure it out.

amusedmonkey

Activity level:
ALWAYS have your activity level at sedentary regardless of your exercise unless your job requires you to be on your feet all day. MFP gives you your base calories based on that then any exercise you add gives you extra calories if needed. MFP provides good guidelines how to setup your activity level. Read the descriptions to determine yours



Recipes:
It will take some time and effort at first, but once you have your recipes set up it becomes a lot easier. Here is how I do it:
1. Enter all ingredients of a recipe by weight in the recipe builder
2. Weigh the pot/skillet/casserole I'm using to prepare food and write the weight down
3. Weigh the finished dish in the pot
4. Subtract the weight of the pot to get the weight of the food alone
5. Enter number of servings based on the weight. In my case I like to use 100 grams as a serving because it's easy to calculate - if my recipe weighs 2500 grams for example, I would enter the number of servings as 25.
In this example the whole recipe weighs 1300 grams so I entered 13 as a number of servings.


6. From then on, you won't need to re-enter the ingredients if you make this dish again. All you need to do is weigh out what you will be eating and use the appropriate amount. In this case I had 375 grams of this dish.


It seems involved, but it's not. It only takes time and effort at first, but as you gradually build your recipe arsenal it's as simple as logging it like you would any other easy to weigh food and you don't need to change it unless you make changes to something that has a lot of calories (example if I used 70 grams of oil instead of 35)

Losingweight1983

Ok another question: do you eat every one of your calories minus the exercise ones? I have 37 calories left over for the day (am eating dinner right now) and wondering if I should add anything extra to make up that 37 calories or just call it good for the day?

Christine_72

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

Ok another question: do you eat every one of your calories minus the exercise ones? I have 37 calories left over for the day (am eating dinner right now) and wondering if I should add anything extra to make up that 37 calories or just call it good for the day?

I'd call it a day. Remember, calorie counting is not 100% precise. I mostly always leave a buffer at the end of the day to make up for any little inaccuracies i make here or there.

Losingweight1983

Christine_72 wrote: »

Losingweight1983 wrote: »

Ok another question: do you eat every one of your calories minus the exercise ones? I have 37 calories left over for the day (am eating dinner right now) and wondering if I should add anything extra to make up that 37 calories or just call it good for the day?

I'd call it a day. Remember, calorie counting is not 100% precise. I mostly always leave a buffer at the end of the day to make up for any little inaccuracies i make here or there.

OK that is what I thought but I wasn't for sure. I'm still new to the whole tracking calories thing so I appreciate the feedback from everyone.