Confused About Calories?

elephant2mouse

"Your estimated BMR is: 1,816 calories/day*"

MFP has my calories set at 1690.
I have a hard time eating that much, unless I gorge in unhealthy calories; which is what I DO NOT want to do...

I also have a bad habit of eating a tiny breakfast and lunch so I can have a calorie heavy dinner... which I know wont aide in weight loss...
I guess I'm just frustrated and confused on how many darn calories I'm supposed to be eating and what they are supposed to consist of... can anyone spell it out for me? lol

HeyGoRun

go here has some awesome info!
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

j6o4

"Your estimated BMR is: 1,816 calories/day*"

MFP has my calories set at 1690.
I have a hard time eating that much, unless I gorge in unhealthy calories; which is what I DO NOT want to do...

I also have a bad habit of eating a tiny breakfast and lunch so I can have a calorie heavy dinner... which I know wont aide in weight loss...
I guess I'm just frustrated and confused on how many darn calories I'm supposed to be eating and what they are supposed to consist of... can anyone spell it out for me? lol

A calorie heavy dinner wont effect your weight loss if you are eating a deficit. You can have a treat here and there, "clean" food can still cause weight gain if you eat more than you burn.

Live4theLift

Few things to consider when dieting

1.- You can eat at any time of the day, as long as your cals are in check then your fine
2.- You can eat junk and still lose weight, not the healthiest approach but cals in cals out doesnt lie
3.- Fats are good for you, dont avoid them
4.- Same goes for carbs, they are a good source of energy

RllyGudTweetr

Keep an eye on your macros: Fats (they aren't evil), Proteins (the number MFP gives could be considered a minimum) and Carbs (again, not evil). Get as close as you can to those macros without going over your daily calorie goal, and you should see positive results, barring specific medical issues or inaccurate logging.

Other things to remember:

- Meal timing as an effective tool for weightloss is a myth
- "Eating clean" varies so much from poster to poster that the term has no general definition
- If you're using MFP's method of tracking calories, it EXPECTS you to eat back exercise calories to stay on course
- One day off-track is not the end of the world

lindsw28

When I need extra calories but don't want to head for the chips or cookies, I'll eat a handful or two of nuts, some cheese, avocados, and cook with olive oil. It's healthy fat but will still ramp up your cals.

elephant2mouse

Thank you guys!
I thought you couldn't eat late... Dohh.
I'm pretty new at this all...

Another thing I have trouble with is if I go out to eat and don't have the nutritional values and can't find them online I kinda have to guess... which is frustrating.. and I don't log my exercise because I'm not sure how many calories I've burned and whatnot.