Needs friends and advice

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I'm new to the app and I'm new to monitoring my caloric intake. I've done well so far. I've limited myself to 2500 calories a day while being a carpenter so I get an 8 hour workout. Since counting calories I've lost 8 lbs but today I came home and went ham. I don't have a way to log my workouts during the day since they aren't conventional workouts and I feel like I'm going to burn myself out by not knowing what calories I'm burning. I feel that 2500 calories is too little for my daily activity but I'm stoked by the results. Those 8 lbs lost have been over a course of two weeks. So basically I need friends to keep me motivated and possibly to compare meal diaries because I have no idea what to eat.

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  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
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    Can you get an activity tracker? That would give you some idea of exercise calories. But it sounds like you have made a great start.
  • melanie_005
    melanie_005 Posts: 154 Member
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    WOW what a great start!! You can add me.
  • 4gig
    4gig Posts: 22 Member
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    To get an idea of your daily caloric expenditure you can try a tdee calculator like https://tdeecalculator.net with your activity level I would start at heavy exercise. You have had great initial results! Without knowing more about you I can only give general advice i wouldn't go below 1000 calories under your tdee results (that should be about -2lb a week) if you are losing more then that going forward I would recommend increasing your calorie intake. The medical recommendation for healthy weight loss is 1 lb per week. The other general advice I often see not to go below your bmr which is the amount of calories your body uses every day just to keep you going, you can find a calculator for that under the apps tab in mfp. Let me know if I can do anything to help you. I'm still a work in progress but I will share what I know.
  • TabithaCheesecake
    TabithaCheesecake Posts: 652 Member
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    8lb loss is amazing. Well done you!

    I don't eat back my calories but 8 hours of continuous exercise you really should. I'd second the activity tracker, preferably one that would link to your heart rate (give you more of an accurate idea but they can be a little hit or miss). Also 4gig has given a great website, I think initially, it's about learning your own body and responding to it accordingly.

    I'm clearly no expert. I have lost 140lb (and still have some jiggle to shift) but my body is responding completely different now then when i began this lifestyle change so I feel like a novice continuously and tweet this is that. Feel free to add, we can wing it together.
  • gearhead426hemi
    gearhead426hemi Posts: 919 Member
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    Get a good fitness tracker and that will help. Great job on what you have lost already! Feel free to add me for recipes and crazy workouts!
  • GoKasey5
    GoKasey5 Posts: 13 Member
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    Nice job! 8 lbs in two weeks is definitely something to be stoked about!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Set up your stats in MFP and set your activity level to Active or Very Active. Set your loss goal to 1 lb per week. This should help cover your daily calorie burn while working construction. The way MFP is set up, you count your work activity in your activity level setting, not in the exercise log. On the days you're not working, assuming you're less active, reduce your calories by 500-1000. Try this for a month and see if it gives you a loss while keeping up your energy for work.
  • kellig1979
    kellig1979 Posts: 19 Member
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    Add me please... Looking for the same