confusion on calorie intake!

berit123

im confused in the whole calorie intake subject....im new to mfp. im confused on how many calories im supposed to eat in order to lose weight. ive been reading that you are supposed to eat half the calories that you burn and i thought you just needed to eat under or on the amount of calories you have for the day posted on your profile....if i burn calories it will tell me that i have more calories that i can eat....im not sure by doing this i will maintain my weight or not....i want to lose weight though....any help please???

berit123

also on eating exercise calories?? that is part of what is confusing me also...

FilmiHero

Good question. I briefly read that you're supposed to eat your exercise calories but never really looked into it until I read your post.

I found a long-winded answer on this thread which does a good job at explaining why you should eat your exercise calories -- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

I personally keep a small buffer at the end of the day where I have anywhere from 200 or less calories left. I do this just in case I'm off a little in my diary postings.

So far, I've been losing weight even though its been just 2 weeks.

maroon58

ok, my calories intake is 1200. if i exercise and burn 200 then i have only taken in about 1000. so, some people either eat all their exercise calories back, half of them back or none at all. i usually end up eating about half back. so then i am at 1100 calories at the end of the day. now, i don't eat them all back because i don't truly know sometimes how accurate i am at logging my calories and since i don't have a heart rate monitor i don't have the exact number of calories i am burning thru exercise. there are many posts on this topic, so if you need more information just type it in the search menu above. welcome to mfp! hope i was able to help!

mmbharrell

If I exercise I add the calories to what I can have, and I'm still losing. I believe your allotment is calculated on your lifestyle so if you add exercise your allotment goes up

berit123

im still quite confused...i just started mfp yesterday....wat do i need to do exactly? ok so i can only have 1200 calories in a day...today i ate 1089 calories and burned off 515 (mostly cardio exercise).....wat does this exactly mean? wat calories am i supposed to eat and how much calories am i supposed to leave in order to lose weight....also am i supposed to burn off the amount of calories that i ate that day in order to lose any weight?

berit123

also does it matter what food i eat in order to use up my calories? such as junk food?? as long as i dont go over my calorie intake??

maroon58

mfp just gives you 1200 as a minimum, you can change the amount if you need more calories. ok, so today you ate about 1100 calories and burned 500. so your intake is 1100-500=600 calories. you probably should eat back at least 200-250 calories so you don't go into starvation mode. your body needs the extra calories it lost in exercise. not all of them but some. obviously, eating something healthier is a lot better than just junk food. your body will start to crave healthy food and you will feel better. depending on how many pounds/week you want to lose will determine how many calories you need to exercise and consume. under my home, then goals, i believe, you can change the setting.

now, i am no expert but i am just telling you what i have learned. i eat back half of my calories and have lost 0.8lbs/week. i am just going at the slow and steady pace, lol!

fxst78

When you entered in your details you entered a goal to lose weight. So everything that MFP tells you to do is with that goal in mind. So if you enter everything accurately and eat the calories it tells you to you will lose weight.

The healthier the food the better. You can lose weight eating junk but you will be very hungry as junk is not very filling

Also, underestimate your exercise slightly. That way you can be sure that you are not accidently going over.

Measure all your food and log it accurately.

The more lean protein and vegies you eat the better.

berit123

thanks guys!! that helped!