Total Calorie count

aneary1980

Hi

I signed up with the aim of losing around 40lbs and it has told me that I should be only consuming 1200 cals a day and I'm hitting around 1800 cals a day.

I exercise around 3/4 a week a training program designed by my PT which has cardio, weights and resitance training and is around 90 minutes in length. Plus I do at least 1 pilates class a week.

I don't eat anymore on gym days than on non gym days, surely 1200 cals is not enough.

BTW I don't eat rubbish everything I eat is home made without too much fat or salt.

Thanks
Alison

_Zardoz_

You should be eating a portion of your exercise calories back. MFP calculates your calories with a deficit via your activity level and the loss and other data you enter. Exercise is not taken into account so those calories need to be eaten back to sustain your exercise. Obviously you can never be 100% when calculating how many calories you burn so I would suggest eating 50% of them back and seeing how you go from there you may be able to up them more depending on how accurate your exercise calculations are

TavistockToad

are you losing weight eating 1800 cals?

aneary1980

I don't really know yet?

I discuss what I eat with my PT and she seemed happy with it.

sijomial

I'm guessing you set an aggressive weight loss goal of 2lbs a week instead of the 1lb a week recommended.
Myfitnesspal goal you have chosen by entering your stats and goal isn't just 1200 calories - it is 1200 calories plus exercise calories. It's just a calculator - you control it by entering your data and goals.

Your PT won't know about how myfitnesspal works unless you told her, she is probably working from total intake ignoring exercise.

If your goal is losing weight then it's sensible to weigh yourself otherwise how will you know you are making progress? Taking measurements and progress photos is sensible too.

aneary1980

oops I didn't see the drop down box of how much weight to lose a week.

It's now just over 1400 cals which I'm still over but it isn't such as scary number.

KarenJanine

oops I didn't see the drop down box of how much weight to lose a week.

It's now just over 1400 cals which I'm still over but it isn't such as scary number.

This is a more sensible goal - add in your exercise calories and you should have a calorie goal you are more comfortable with.

If you prefer having the same calorie intake every day, you could try using the TDEE method, which averages your exercise calories across the week. Use a calculator like this one to calculate your recommended intake, taking a 15% or 20% cut from TDEE: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

However, if you are happy eating 1800 and it's allowing you to reach your goals then stick with that.