MFP calories and percentages HELP

marie111
marie111 Posts: 91 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
hi can anyone tell me what im suposed to eat calorie wise and percentages mfp say 1200 all the over sites say 1400 to lose weight also what percent of carbs protein fat etc do we need as everyone is differnt HELP want to do this right and getting very confused.

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    MFP works so you eat back your exercise calories, so 1200 plus exercise would probably be the same as 1400 on other websites.

    as for macros, 40/30/30 is a good starting point.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    These two posts are really useful for explaining how MFP works:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Once you've finished those, you might want to read some of the others on this page:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

    Most diet books aren't worth the paper they're printed on, but Yoni Freedhoff's new book The Diet Fix is an exception. Info at:
    http://thedietfix.com
  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
    In order to give you a number, we will need your stats:
    -Age
    - Gender
    - Height
    - Current weight
    - Goal weight
    - Desired rate of loss
    - General activity level
    - Planned/current exercise schedule

    If you still need help with a number after reading the excellent articles above, come back here and let us know. Good luck w/ your weight loss journey.
  • marie111
    marie111 Posts: 91 Member
    hi dr jen thats all abit complicating for me at the moment so your help would be appreciated

    Hight 5.2
    weight 13stone 4lb
    age 49
    female
    no excercise at the moment due to a hystorectomy a few weeks ago
    will be starting some excercise after another 6 weeks hope this is enough info many thanks
  • marie111
    marie111 Posts: 91 Member
    ps forgot 2lb a week
    and would love to be 9 1/2 - 10 stone
  • tayloryay
    tayloryay Posts: 378 Member
    2 lbs a week is too aggressive for your goals. Try setting it to 1 lb a week at most.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    ps forgot 2lb a week
    and would love to be 9 1/2 - 10 stone

    I would recommend you go for 1 to 1.5 pounds per week. It is more sustainable.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Put your numbers in the calculator for MFP and trust those numbers. The difference between this site and others is that here you eat back your exercise calories - they go in on top of what you entered.

    BTW - I look at your picture and you are too thin to lose 2 pounds a week. Go for one pound. It is tedious to keep logging, but it will come off and you're more likely to stick with a realistic goal. Two pounds/week is for people with a LOT of weight to lose. You're thinking crash diet and fast loss. Long term success means changing what you're eating. Forever.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    Two pounds per week is a bit agressive for the amount of weight you have to lose. 1 to 1.5 per week would be more reasonable. Once you change that goal, you'll get a bit more calories per day.

    Sounds like you're not very active right now since you're recovering from surgery so set your activity level to sedentary. Once you start becoming more active, make sure you change it to reflect your usual daily activity - the descriptors help. And once you start exercise, make sure you log it and eat back at least half of earned calories.

    As far as macro percentages, I agree with 40/30/30
  • marie111
    marie111 Posts: 91 Member
    thanks iv changed my goal for lbs to just 1 lb a week and see if i lose anything iv just aquired another 300 calories by going down 1lb didnt expect that lol x
  • JackieRL55
    JackieRL55 Posts: 144 Member
    After EXTENSIVE research (including reading posts on MFP) I figured out that if you just put your stats as you know them into MFP, including your weightloss goal (2 pounds is way too aggressive for your size) then you WILL lose the weight. As mentioned previously, MFP is designed to allow you to eat back your exercise calories burned so if you don't eat them all back then you will speed up the process.

    Keep in mind, it takes 3500 calories burned to lose just one pound so in order to lose just one pound a week you have to burn 3500 calories. That's 500 calories a day!

    It is a pretty complicated formula but MFP takes into consideration your Total Daily Energy Expenditure in order to figure out how much calories you need to consume to be in the negative so if it's giving you 1200 calories then the assumption is that your TDEE is probably around 1700 and that is solely based on information that you enter, including your activity level (do not include exercise in your activity level).

    Hope this helps. Looks like you are on the right track! Good luck!

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