Starting over after an injury... how many calories for VERY active. Curious how much you actives eat

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Tropicoolblonde
Tropicoolblonde Posts: 70 Member
in Getting Started
Hi there! Long story short I hit my goal.. then had a surgery which forbid all exercise for 2 months and when I did exercise I got hurt. It was a minor sprain so I have finally just started exercising again. I am 15 pounds over my goal due to all these mishaps. I am VERY active, now that I am able to exercise again. Physical job - on feet, running around, lifting heavy objects all day. On top of this I do the elliptical for 90 minutes each morning for the last 3 days.. will do this 6x a week with one rest day. I also cycle 1 hour 3x a week and lift weights every week day. I'm almost 6' tall and female. I'm in my mid 20s. Do I net 1200, or should I net higher since my calorie needs are probably a little off the charts when it comes to what is "normal". Obviously I gained this weight from not exercising ( I couldn't) and eating the same as if I was exercising. Love to hear what you guys are doing! It's been a while

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  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    what did you get when you ran your stats through MFP? at 6' tall and only have 15lbs to lose, I'd set your rate of loss to about .5lbs a week and eat back a portion of exercise calories (purposeful)

    personally, highly active athlete and I maintain on about 2700avg
  • Tropicoolblonde
    Tropicoolblonde Posts: 70 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    what did you get when you ran your stats through MFP? at 6' tall and only have 15lbs to lose, I'd set your rate of loss to about .5lbs a week and eat back a portion of exercise calories (purposeful)

    personally, highly active athlete and I maintain on about 2700avg

    i will check and let you know. Your numbers sound close to mine.
  • Tropicoolblonde
    Tropicoolblonde Posts: 70 Member
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    It's giving me 1600 calories a day to lose 0.5lb a week. That's net
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    based on what you poasted - I would maybe look at using a TDEE calculator than the MFP and eating back calories - I found long term it worked better with me, because I ate a set amount each day and didn't worry about workout burn
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    something like http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • Tropicoolblonde
    Tropicoolblonde Posts: 70 Member
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    Thank you!!
  • gerbradaisy44
    gerbradaisy44 Posts: 43 Member
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    Do you think my fitness pal doesn't give accurate numbers as far as calories you should eat? I am new and was wondering.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    gerbradaisy44 wrote: »
    Do you think my fitness pal doesn't give accurate numbers as far as calories you should eat? I am new and was wondering.

    personally I use TDEE because I have a consistent workout schedule - so it works better for me to use a standard calorie number each day, rather than trying to eat back exercise calories (especially if I workout in the evening - I don't want to be eating 1000cal at 9pm - although I have done that before)
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,070 Member
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    gerbradaisy44 wrote: »
    Do you think my fitness pal doesn't give accurate numbers as far as calories you should eat? I am new and was wondering.

    MFP is as accurate as it can be from the information given. Calorie counting is all about approximates, your results will tell you how accurate it is. If you would like to know how it works out your calories, see below:

    6ivcbk48gteg.jpg
  • Kullerva
    Kullerva Posts: 1,114 Member
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    5'4" and fairly/very active; on my most active (30k+ steps) days I can eat 2700 and maintain without problems (so, 2200 to lose 1 lb per week). This is a LOT of food. I typically live on 1800-2000 and am comfy there. 1200 is definitely too low if you're active.

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