What should my Calorie goal be set to? New to FitnessPal and tracking

masonparada7609

Hello, I'm a 22 year old male, I'm 6 foot tall and 205 pounds. To preface everything, I'm all around healthy but have no clue about calorie counting or tracking any macros and I just started using MyFitnessPal. I'm very dedicated to exercising and being healthy, I don't work during the winters and I do landscaping in the summer, so going from a very very sedentary lifestyle to a very active lifestyle isn't tough, I make sure I exercise almost daily to some capacity throughout the winters.

I rarely eat anything "dessert"-like because I don't like sweets very much. I usually lift very heavy 4-5 times a weak and incorporate heavy cardio in between, i.e Spinning bike and Punching bag. At the beginning of the Winter I was 190-195 and now I'm 205lbs but I've nearly doubled my strength and cardio. I feel healthier than I ever have and although my muscle mass has greatly increased and I've noticed my muscles are very hard when flexed, I know I need to lose body fat.

This is where I'm struggling, I've reached my peak weight for muscle mass I think, but I want to drop body weight Fat. I'm eating what I normally eat and when I started tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal it's showing that i can only eat 1500 calories a day and my goal is 1900, and although I normally eat a lot of eggs, sardines, fish, lean meats, I can't help but wonder why I can't eat 1900 healthy calories.
Any advice will help a lot and sorry if this post is messy I'm just genuinely lost.

kimny72

You are just above the healthy weight range for your height, so if you set yourself to lose more than 1 lb per week, you've chosen too aggressive a goal. Changing it to a more reasonable pace will give you more calories.

Also your MFP calorie goal does not include exercise. It expects you to log your exercise and eat back those calories, on top of your calorie goal.

I'm confused on your post about your activity level, but I'd think you must have chosen sedentary to get the absolute lowest goal of 1500. Make sure your activity level is set properly as well.

Check out these threads too, they might be helpful:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1

masonparada7609

Kimny72 Thanks for the response. I'll check out those two links.
I chose sedentary because most of the day I am sitting around although I workout daily. I thought the activity level was regarding how much of your day you are on your feet and active. I workout for about 45minutes - 1Hour every day with a few rest days off heavy weightlifting. I'm mainly confused on how I am supposed to eat that many calories without eating unhealthy foods like Cake and Ice Cream. I know it's a tough thing to start I just didn't expect such a ramp to climb. Thank you again I really appreciate the reply.

My biggest concern is that I feel like I literally cannot eat enough, after editing my goal from 1lbs per week I changed it to 0.5 and now I need to eat 1000 calories for dinner? I don't know how that's achievable unless I eat junk food.

kimny72

masonparada7609 wrote: »

Kimny72 Thanks for the response. I'll check out those two links.
I chose sedentary because most of the day I am sitting around although I workout daily. I thought the activity level was regarding how much of your day you are on your feet and active. I workout for about 45minutes - 1Hour every day with a few rest days off heavy weightlifting. I'm mainly confused on how I am supposed to eat that many calories without eating unhealthy foods like Cake and Ice Cream. I know it's a tough thing to start I just didn't expect such a ramp to climb. Thank you again I really appreciate the reply.

My biggest concern is that I feel like I literally cannot eat enough, after editing my goal from 1lbs per week I changed it to 0.5 and now I need to eat 1000 calories for dinner? I don't know how that's achievable unless I eat junk food.

You don't have to eat all the calories at once or after the workout. If you know you are working out in the afternoon, eat some of those extra calories ahead. You also don't have to eat all of them, as sometimes the "calories burned" figures are a little inflated. Maybe start out with half and see how it goes. After logging for a couple of weeks, you'll start to get a feel for how many calories you're getting from your workouts and can plan accordingly.

Also, there's nothing wrong with a little cake or ice cream sometimes if it fits in your calories. As long as you are eating a generally nutritious diet, treats are fine!

Also, it can take some practice to log food accurately. Most database entries are user-entered, so you should check them for accuracy before using. Try to avoid generic or recipe-style entries (like "grilled cheese sandwich") as you have no idea what ingredients the random user who created it might have been using.

Be patient, it can take some time to get a handle on how to use the diary well, but you'll get it!

IrishMustangBabe93

@masonparada7609 I'm new to this as well. However I'm wanting to Gain the Weight lol. And you're probably thinking I'm weird by now.

The reason why i want to gain some weight is mostly Female reasons. I'm 26 yrs old and have my "skinny" since i was little. My Man has no problem with my weight but i do.
I have several Medical Issues; Scoliosis , Muscular Dystrophy , and a type of COPD called Pulmonary Chronic Lung Disease. Have a good appetite but don't eat enough. I deal with back pain due to My Scoliosis. Exercises are Not for Me either lol.

@kimny72 got any Advice for Me?

ceiswyn

masonparada7609 wrote: »

Kimny72 Thanks for the response. I'll check out those two links.
I chose sedentary because most of the day I am sitting around although I workout daily. I thought the activity level was regarding how much of your day you are on your feet and active. I workout for about 45minutes - 1Hour every day with a few rest days off heavy weightlifting. I'm mainly confused on how I am supposed to eat that many calories without eating unhealthy foods like Cake and Ice Cream. I know it's a tough thing to start I just didn't expect such a ramp to climb. Thank you again I really appreciate the reply.

My biggest concern is that I feel like I literally cannot eat enough, after editing my goal from 1lbs per week I changed it to 0.5 and now I need to eat 1000 calories for dinner? I don't know how that's achievable unless I eat junk food.

What is unhealthy about cake and ice cream?

kimny72

IrishMustangBabe93 wrote: »

@masonparada7609 I'm new to this as well. However I'm wanting to Gain the Weight lol. And you're probably thinking I'm weird by now.

The reason why i want to gain some weight is mostly Female reasons. I'm 26 yrs old and have my "skinny" since i was little. My Man has no problem with my weight but i do.
I have several Medical Issues; Scoliosis , Muscular Dystrophy , and a type of COPD called Pulmonary Chronic Lung Disease. Have a good appetite but don't eat enough. I deal with back pain due to My Scoliosis. Exercises are Not for Me either lol.

@kimny72 got any Advice for Me?

I will admit, I've never needed to try to gain weight but I'd suggest setting your goal to gain 0.5lbs per week. Is the exercise issue due to your health concerns or just that you don't like to exercise? Doing a bodyweight resistance program might be something to try if you are physically able to protect your muscle mass. If that's a possibility, Google NerdFitness, You are Your Own Gym, or Convict Conditioning.

These threads might help too:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1