Help understanding what I should eat back in calories

PinkCuda13

I am trying to lose 25 pounds. I think I eat pretty healthy and I exercise 5 days a week.

As for meals I eat:

Breakfast: I make a home made fruit smoothie, have Greek yogurt with granola, or eggs and wheat toast for breakfast
Lunch: I typically bring a salad to work or a healthy deli turkey sandwich
Dinner: always varies, but typically chicken, fish, or any lean meat is involved with steamed veggies and brown rice,
Snacks: almonds, boiled eggs, fruit, dried fruit and the Fit & Active brand snacks.
I drink almost a gallon of water a day...

I am wondering how many calories I should eat back with exercise as I want to do this the right way. My workouts tend to be running, stair stepper, weight lifting 3 times a week and interval training. Around 400 - 500 calories a day are burned, give and take. I work out 5 days a week.

Sometimes I wonder if I am eating too little, as my goal is 1300 calories a day... with exercise I usually end up eating in the 1500 - 1600 range... I am never starving though and I actually feel like I am eating too much if I were to eat anymore. ( I love food )

I have really put a lot of effort for about a month, and I am about to take my measurements, weight and take pictures since I want to record those monthly.

Any advice on if I am doing it the right way?

SezxyStef

In all honesty if you are lfting 3x a week and cardio to get to 5 workouts a week eating back some of your calories is paramount for you.

The issue is this....the machines over esitmate..MFP over esitmates and it's hard to guage calories burned from lifting and interval training.

most people suggest eating back 50-75% of those calories depending on how hungry you are.

I use the TDEE method so I don't eat them back but what I do is eat 1600 calories a day every day lift heavy 3x a week and do 2 HIIT sessions on my days not lifting.

YOu can get a good esitmate from http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ this site on what you "could" be eating...worth a try.

Only other question is do you weigh and measure your food? If you don't you might not get the results you were expecting...

TeaBea

MFP as designed gives you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. When you add exercise.....you are increasing the deficit. When the deficit is too large you risk losing muscle mass (along with fat).

Now - here's the tricky part. MFP calorie burns can be inflated. Users could overstate their activity level (which gives you more calories). Users could imput everything as exercise. The list goes on.

Try eating back a portion of your calories & see how it goes. If your weight loss stalls....eat less. If you are tired all the time eat back more.

Some people eat back calories when they are "hungry" ...............this is not indicitive of proper nutrition. Eating tons of fiber is filling....but it doesn't support exisiting muscle mass.