Calorie intake

heathl39
heathl39 Posts: 46
in Health and Weight Loss
According to MFP I should be eating 1200 calories a day. I exercise 4 days a week doing cardio, weights, and circuit training in the place of weights twice a week. I am burning between 400-600 calories on those days. I see my calorie intake rise telling me I need to eat more? Do I have to eat those calories back? Is that why I am not loosing weight?? I have a hard time with food and under eating has been my biggest problem in trying to loose weight. Now that I finally think I have got this...well, I don't. 1200 calories is a lot if food for me, but I need and want to do this right! 194lbs 5ft5

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat back those earned exercise calories. With the caveat that this assumes you have an accurate estimation of how many calories you're burning (gym machines and MFP may overestimate certain activities) and that you're logging your food accurately as well.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    Could this be the reason you're not losing weight? Probably not. Eating back your exercise calories is more about health, safety, and nutrition. You need to fuel your workouts. If you're not losing weight there's likely something else at play, though. Opening your diary might help us to give more specific advice. How long has it been since you last saw a drop on the scale?
  • heathl39
    heathl39 Posts: 46
    I am not good with food. I pretty much dislike it! I have been working up my calories for about two months and I still suck at it. I have lost 2lbs in a month. I have only been going this program for a week. I know I need to give it time, but I want to set myself up for success. I opened my diary, please feel free to look. I need the input because I don't want to give up this time. Thank you :)
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    I am not good with food. I pretty much dislike it! I have been working up my calories for about two months and I still suck at it. I have lost 2lbs in a month. I have only been going this program for a week. I know I need to give it time, but I want to set myself up for success. I opened my diary, please feel free to look. I need the input because I don't want to give up this time. Thank you :)

    2 pounds in a month (or half a pound a week) is actually decent progress. I know it doesn't feel like it and we all want the weight off fast, but any progress is good progress. And as you say that you've only been tracking here a week so you should definitely give it a little more time before deciding whether or not it's working.

    Your diary looks pretty good to me. I'm completely jealous of your Yuengling. We can't get it around here! If you're looking for a quick way to increase your calories on exercise days, look into adding some calorie-dense foods into your diet. Things like nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, full fat dairy, cheese, ice cream, butter, avocado, etc. Cutting out the diet meals and replacing them with their higher calorie versions would help too.
  • heathl39
    heathl39 Posts: 46
    Thank you so much for peaking in on me. I will try the nuts and peanut butter. I think that will be a great way for me to gain some good calories without having to eat a whole lot more. I was also thinking of cutting out the diet meals because of the sodium. Man there is a lot of sodium in those little meals. I wish I could send a yuengling ????thanks again for the support. You rock!!
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1400 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    Allan
  • heathl39
    heathl39 Posts: 46
    I will absolutely give that a shot. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.

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