New to this and a little confused.

janhiness

I eat 1200 calories a day. I've been burning between 1500 and 2000 calories a day. Should I eat more or just continue with the 1200 calorie diet? I feel fine not hungry I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

lastchance2010

you would def want to consume more calories. You can put your body into starvation mode and you will start storing fat...:noway: Wouldn't want to do that now, would you? Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:

janhiness

I don't have a heart rate monitor I just go off what the machine says I burned. I've been drinking a meal replacement shake in the morning and having salad for lunch and I'll have spinach broccoli and some meat for dinner. The meat is weighed out. I don't weigh the veggies.

kettlebellsrock

You need to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate you can find calculators online). For me I am 40 years old, female, 5.6ft tall, weight 180lbs so for me to just exist (no excercise) I need to eat 1560 cals a day. Then you need to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and the amount of excercise you are doing with the Harris Benedict Equation:
Harris Benedict Formula
To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

•If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So for me at my BMR of 1560 calories x 1.55 (for my moderate activity) I would need to consume 2418 calories to maintian my current weight.
1 lb of fat equals 3500 calories. For me to lose 2 lbs a week I would have to eat 7000 calories LESS a week. So that would make it 1418 calories a day I should be eating to lose that 2lbs a week.
The type of food you eat has a huge impact. The more dense the food is, i.e spinach per 100 cals has more protien that 100 cals of steak, for an average person to consume the required protien in one meal you would only have to eat 1 oz of steak to 5 pounds of spinach for them to equal the protien content, meaing spinach is less dense than steak. Anyway that is another post on the correct foods to eat for fat loss, muscle gain.
I hope that makes sense. So you can be more accurate in the amount of calories you need to eat for your age, current weight and activity level for your weight loss goal.

kettlebellsrock

I am also concerned for the foods you are eating as they are not muscle building foods, which is what you want. You need to feed your muscles to burn more fat at rest. What I see from you example of your daily food intake is not good.
Do you do any resistance training, weights?

MadMac138

First of all, good job on starting your weight loss journey! It is hard to figure out at first, but you'll be a pro in no time. I have my settings in MFP set for moderately active, which allows me about 1560 calories/day without any extra activity. MFP takes into account your BMR and the basic calories you burn per day so that doesn't need to be factored into your calorie burn. My question here is- how long are you exercising and on what machines? Burning 1500-2000 extra calories is insane. I am currently training to become an RPM instructor and even if I take 2 hardcore cycling classes per day my calorie burn is around 1200-1300. This is about 2 hours of exercise at about 90% intensity (all per my HRM with chest strap). Judging from your allotted calorie intake, I would say you are smaller than I am so it would take a significant amount of extra effort to burn that many calories in a workout. That being said, if you are netting this extra calorie burn you should certainly be eating more. When I have an intense cardio day I tend to eat back all of the calories I burn plus some. Your body will hold onto fat if you starve it and it will be incredibly difficult to lose that weight later on. I try to stay in a 200-300 calorie deficit every day for healthy weight loss.

janhiness

Okay I'm 5'2 207 pounds. I wake up and walk withy son we do an hr and I burn about 300 calories from that. I go to the gym at night and do the elliptical for 2 hours. That's where all my calorie burn comes from. I do lift weights but nothing major. I thought I was eating a good diet. I snack of fruit and sometimes yogurt.

sjaplo

You can put your body into starvation mode and you will start storing fat.

um what? I thought we dispelled that myth............

Unknown

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