Calories

jocop2003

Okay I am confused what to do and I am not one to understand all the fancy words like macros etc. but I would love to log my calories on mfp. I am just under 5'5 weigh around 150 well that is on my parents scale yesterday. My goal is to get to 130 or close to it.

How many calories should I eat and should I eat back my exercise calories. 1200 seems so small, I am a big eater, maybe I have to get used to it but my bed time I am starving.

I need to find a set amount to make me feel sane but reach my goal.

Thanks

Phrick

When you have so little to lose (comparatively), for starters, you need to set your "lose __ pounds a week" goal *WAY* lower, to just .5 -1lb a week (.5 would be ideal). The reason is, basically, that the closer you are to your goal weight, the harder your body will fight you on losing. You can still lose, but it can be agonizingly slow. Oh sure, you CAN lose fast, but you will unnecessarily stress your systems out, be miserable, and most likely crash and burn in the end. Much better is the "slow and steady" philosophy. Plus, bonus, by changing it to "lose .5 pounds per week" it will give you significantly more calories as your goal to eat. I know, we all want the weight gone NOW. We ALL probably initially wanted to lose 2 lbs a week. But it's not reasonable, it's not practical, and it's not safe.

editorgrrl

When you have so little to lose (comparatively), you need to set your "lose __ pounds a week" goal *WAY* lower, to just .5 -1lb a week.

QFT. Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error. Start by eating back all your exercise calories. Get used to logging everything you eat or drink accurately & honestly. If you're not losing after a few weeks, try eating back just half your exercise calories.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

d2footballJRC

At the amount of weight you need to lose, you should probably be set to lose half a pound weekly. I don't think 2lbs a week will be a goal that is easily done with only 20lbs to lose.

jocop2003

Thanks I found a simple calculator on the net figured that in order to lose about a 1lb a week is 1600 calories than the more I lose, I lower to 1500. So I adjusted my goal on mfp to 1500 calories. I am not going to eat back any calories I burned, but going to trying and stay with in my calorie range or be with in a 100. On the weekends as long as I stick to my goal, I will allow an extra 300 calories as I usually do more excercise.

I agree on the slow weight gain as if I rush it I sabotage it like I have done over the past 5 years, as a result I got obsessed with the scale which caused more damage.

auddii

Thanks I found a simple calculator on the net figured that in order to lose about a 1lb a week is 1600 calories than the more I lose, I lower to 1500. So I adjusted my goal on mfp to 1500 calories. I am not going to eat back any calories I burned, but going to trying and stay with in my calorie range or be with in a 100. On the weekends as long as I stick to my goal, I will allow an extra 300 calories as I usually do more excercise.

I agree on the slow weight gain as if I rush it I sabotage it like I have done over the past 5 years, as a result I got obsessed with the scale which caused more damage.

The simple calculator assumes that you log and eat back exercise calories. It has a built in deficit based on your activity level. You don't want a large deficit because it can be counter productive sometimes. More info here:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

However, with that said, the calculator here seems to overestimate calories burned, so I'd log 30 min of x exercise, and then manually change the calories burned to 2/3 of what it said. So if it said 300 calories calculated, I'd only log 200, so that should compensate for calculation errors.

You don't have to exercise to lose weight, you just need a calorie defecit. But, it's a good idea to exercise to get "healthy" and to be fit. Some very good reasons to do cardio:
1) Improve cardiovascular fitness (although lifting weights can do this too).
2) In order to eat more food.
3) Improve aerobic capacity.

Notice #2. If you burn more calories, you should eat them back because you should have a moderate deficit (as calculated here). Some people like to only create a deficit through exercise, but to do that, you should set your calories to maintain and then don't eat back exercise calories.

MFP can be a very effective tool, but it should be used as intended for the best results.

TR0berts

The simple calculator assumes that you log and eat back exercise calories. It has a built in deficit based on your activity level. You don't want a large deficit because it can be counter productive sometimes.

That entirely depends upon the calculator. If you have a desk job, but work out 3 times a week, you'd be lightly active. If the calculator has a built-in deficit based upon activity level, and you input lightly active as your level, you wouldn't eat back your exercise Calories using this method. You could, in theory, put your activity level in as sedentary if you have a desk job, and eat back your exercise Calories, but then you wouldn't be using the calculator properly.

auddii

You could, in theory, put your activity level in as sedentary if you have a desk job, and eat back your exercise Calories, but then you wouldn't be using the calculator properly.

^Um, that's exactly how the calculator is designed. I think that's a typo?

I did mentioned it was based on activity level. However, it seems most people tend to put their previous activity level but add in a new exercise routine. I think they put their old activity level because maybe they miss a workout, and then eat too many calories, etc. But, you're right. If you count your exercise in your activity levels, then you don't have to eat the calories back.

If you want to track calories but not eat them back because you included it in your initial activity level (since MFP automatically adds them to your daily goal), log the description of the exercise, but say you only burned 1 calorie (it won't let you put 0). Less math involved.

TR0berts

You could, in theory, put your activity level in as sedentary if you have a desk job, and eat back your exercise Calories, but then you wouldn't be using the calculator properly.

^Um, that's exactly how the calculator is designed. I think that's a typo?

MFP's calculator works that way, but OP seemed to imply that (s)he used a different calculator. If (s)he used a calculator based on TDEE - which most other online calculators use - then no, that's not how you use it.