I need help with my calories

skyebare

Ok so I am just starting out working out, and so far I have lost 15lbs all together in a month, 5lbs since I started watching my calorie intake. So here is my question: I'm set to eat 1200 cals a day, but I workout pretty vigorously and sometimes burn up to 800 cals a day. Am I supposed to equal the amount of calorie intake to the amount I burn? Or am I supposed to eat 2000 cals on a 800 cal burn day so my total cal intake is 1200? Or am I supposed to eat 1200 and burn 1200? I never seem to be able to eat enough cals to mach my cal burn... I want to be healthy, and I'm trying to lose 45 lbs total. Someone please explain, I am so confused. I have a desk job at a call center so gym time is my only exercise for the day.

GingerLolita

If you log your exercise, MFP will recalculate your calories.

Katla49

I eat back part of my exercise calories and I'm getting good success. Good luck to you.

pinkiemarie252

Yep, if you log the exercise it will calculate your new daily total for you. It's best not to eat too little so you would want to try to have a net intake of about 1200. The exercise will still help you burn fat and increase your metabolism.

servilia

Ok so I am just starting out working out, and so far I have lost 15lbs all together in a month, 5lbs since I started watching my calorie intake. So here is my question: I'm set to eat 1200 cals a day, but I workout pretty vigorously and sometimes burn up to 800 cals a day. Am I supposed to equal the amount of calorie intake to the amount I burn? Or am I supposed to eat 2000 cals on a 800 cal burn day so my total cal intake is 1200? Or am I supposed to eat 1200 and burn 1200? I never seem to be able to eat enough cals to mach my cal burn... I want to be healthy, and I'm trying to lose 45 lbs total. Someone please explain, I am so confused. I have a desk job at a call center so gym time is my only exercise for the day.

Eat 2000 so when you burn 800 you have 1200 net.

skyebare

Ok so I need to eat more... Before this I would really only eat once a day.. So eating 5 times a day now I feel like a cow... But I know the eating once a day is why I got so dang fat to begin with.. Thanks guys

servilia

Ok so I need to eat more... Before this I would really only eat once a day.. So eating 5 times a day now I feel like a cow... But I know the eating once a day is why I got so dang fat to begin with.. Thanks guys

You can eat just once a day as long as you stay within your calorie goal. I did this for a long time and lost weight and got fit.

WhoIsAmber

I usually only eat back half my exercise calories because I don't have a HRM so, it's all just guestimates for how many my calories I burned.

It doesn't matter how many meals you eat, if you're accurately counting your calories and are under your calorie goal for the day, you'll lose weight.

geekyjock76

MFP operates under a net calorie system. So if your goal is 1200 net, and you legitimately burn 800 calories in exercise, you eat a total of 2000.

I don't know if you chose a 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 lb weekly weight loss goal, but if you had to lose 45 lbs from the start, your options should either be 1.0 or 1.5 lbs at the most. Once you have 30 or so lbs left to lose, make sure to change your goal to 1.0 lb weekly loss. Finally, once you have about 15 lbs or less to lose, change it to a 0.5 lb goal and ride that till you are done.