Silly weight loss question

pcrosthwaite
pcrosthwaite Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I've been using MFP solidly for about a month now, and having my cal's set to 1600 seems to be working for me (7kg in the last month)

I find that the 1600 is a good number for me, not too hungry, don't feel tired etc., but what I was wondering is I hear a lot about how calories in need to be less then calories out.

I ride my bike at least 3 times a week, and burn about 5-600 calories each ride. The math part of my brain says that if i'm burning 600 cal/day, but eating 1600 cal/day, that should mean i'm gaining weight?

I realise that there are other calorie burning factors like breathing, walking etc., but do those things really make that big of a difference?

Also, as a keen cycler, are there any gadgets people recommend in monitoring things? I'm just using my iPhone and RunKeeper at the moment.

thanks heaps

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Your BMR is the calories your body would burn in a coma. Google BMR and figure out what yours is. You need to eat more than that just to exist. 1600 may or may not be above that number but is probably a good calorie goal. If you are exercising 600 calories worth a day theoretically you can eat those back as well.

    Your TDEE (Google will work here as well) is the number of calories you would burn in a day with your activity level. Some people like to factor their exercise activity into their TDEE so they don't have to add it separately. Your choice.

    Read up on BMR and TDEE, do some of the calculations and then you can make a decision on what will work best for you.

    Edit: Just saw that you are male so it's doubtful that 1600 is even over your BMR. You really should probably be eating more. You've gotten a great start on your weight loss now but under eating will usually cause you problems in the long run.
  • pcrosthwaite
    pcrosthwaite Posts: 3
    yeah, the 1600 number came from selecting "loose 1kg a week" when setting up MFP.

    I was hoping that MFP would take that I'm a male into consideration in its budget calculations.

    I'll have a google around and check it out though - thanks
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
    You're not the first person to be confused. I would start here:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy

    and a very helpful group
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

Categories