Am I Doing This Right?

msommy

I ask if I am doing it right, because of the net/remaining calories. I am scheduled to eat at 1640cal a day. Great. I do my best to achieve that goal, or stay relatively close most days. However, due to my Fitbit steps and gym time, I end up netting something like 2000cal sometimes. MyFitnessPal then in turn is asking me to eat nearly 2500-3000cal a day in total, 1640+Net Calories. What!? I am in no way going to eat that much when I am trying to lose weight. But why is there so much on the back end that I am supposed to eat back. Even eating half of them back seems like way too much. The numbers just feel wrong.

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Male
33yrs of Age
5'4''
50lbs+ to lose
SW - 190
GW -140 (to be healthy)
Real GW - 130-135 (to be fit)
*I was at my lowest weight 126lbs a decade ago. So these weight goals are/should be achievable and not low, for those wondering.

esmesqualor

I don't eat back my exrecise calories because I won't lose that way. I have trouble losing even when I keep to that! Experiment a little and see how your weight loss goes, along with energy levels- maybe on days when you do a hard, long workout you may want to add an extra 200-300, but it really depends on your metabolism, as I said, mine will not support that.

WinoGelato

Why does that seem unreasonable to you? I’m a 5’2 female and I lost my weight eating between 1600-1900 cals, my maintenance TDEE from my FitBit and actual results is around 2100-2200.

AnnPT77

I'm 5'5", female, lost down to 120 pounds at age 59-60, most of that loss eating 1400-1600 plus all exercise calories (after estimating them carefully). Maintenance calories are in the low 2000s, plus exercise.

I admit I'm an excellent calorie burner for my age . . . but I'm female, lighter, and nearly twice your age (62 now).

What MFP is telling you is plausible. Try it for a month and see what loss your average. At your size, you probably shouldn't try to lose more than 1-1.5 pounds a week (for best health) anyway.

steveko89

There are a number of threads discussing fitbits and there's a pretty sizable community of users on MFP, though I'm not one of them. Gut-check of your stats at TDEECalculator.net have your TDEE ranges from 2060 to 2960 depending on level of exercise; so it's not altogether implausible that you're maintenance is in that 2500-3000 calorie range. I had an issue previously where my non-fitbit HRM was overestimating my workout calories by a good bit, which resulted in eliminating my deficit. Like @AnnPT77 suggested, pick a number in that range, stick to it for 3-4 weeks and adjust accordingly.

sauronseye

This is a bit confusing. I am also 5'4'' and at 147lbs MFP gives me 1200 calories a day. I eat back some of the calories from exercise, not all.

AnnPT77

sauronseye wrote: »

This is a bit confusing. I am also 5'4'' and at 147lbs MFP gives me 1200 calories a day. I eat back some of the calories from exercise, not all.

Since MFP have you 1200 calories, I'm guessing you're female. OP is male. Men, on average, burn more calories than women, even at the same size.

WinoGelato

sauronseye wrote: »

This is a bit confusing. I am also 5'4'' and at 147lbs MFP gives me 1200 calories a day. I eat back some of the calories from exercise, not all.

OP is male. Also, what rate of loss did you choose?

sauronseye

OK, I somehow overlooked that, thanks, guys!

I chose 1 kg per week.