Newbie--does this sound ok or should i increase calories?

amandakev88

using the MFP app, to lose 1 pound a week [settings set to sedentary] it suggested i eat 1500 calories a day.

i have recently started working out--rejoined a gym four days ago--and have gone every day for the last four days. with the exception of the gym, i am sedentary. should i leave my calorie goal as is or increase it now that im working out? according to IIFYM my BMR is higher than what im currently eating. im doing cardio and weights every day. any feedback would be greatly appreciated!! thank you

4legsRbetterthan2

Sounds good, I think what is leading to the confusion is the differences in the plans. On MFP it gives you the calorie goal to meet to lose the weight. Since you selected sedentary it is putting you below you BMR to lose weight without exercise. You need to track your workouts and eat back your workout calories burned or else you will be eating too few calories. I believe the IIFYM plan uses the TDEE -20% which should account for your exercise in the origional calculation, so it will have you eating more every day and you do not add back in exercise calories on the days you work out.

MadTownD

I think you can adjust your activity level on here to account for the exercise. Also, logging your exercise can help you keep an eye on how many calories you're burning, but I do think they tend to over estimate the amount of calories burned, so that's something else to watch for.

amandakev88

great. thank you guys. im thinking i'll increase to around 1700 if im working out 5x a week. [light exercise 7 days but actual workouts just 5]

meshashesha2012

or you could leave it as sedentary and eat your exercise calories back. that's how it's set up on MFP if you are logging your workouts