Calorie intake

QAPmom

Hi all! I am curious on what I should be having for a general calorie intake. I am 32, 5' 4" and currently at 173. Weight loss has been slow, only down 10 lbs since March 3rd-but hey least I'm down some! MFP puts me at 1200 calories which I bumped to 1350 because I just felt tired alot... I walk and do Zumba Core at home everday so my week would look kind of like this:

M-zumba for 45 min
T- walk for 30
W-Zumba for 35
TH - Zumba for 45
F-walk for 30
Saturday Zumba for an hour and walk 30-45
Sunday same as Saturday

I have been reading a ton of posts about TDEE, NEAT, etc which kind of leaves me confused...Any help would be appreciated Also, eat back excersie calories or not?

THANKS!

candyinmyheels

so, if this has been your exercise plan for a while, it might be that your body is getting used to it, it may help to switch things up a bit, or increase time/intensity.
Have you analyzed your food breakdown? Like percentage of carbs/protein/fat?

as for eating your exercise calories...it's worth trying both ways (maybe for a week or two) and seeing how you feel... Generally I try to eat maybe half my exercise calories, unless I am not hungry for them.

TeaBea

Hi all! I am curious on what I should be having for a general calorie intake. I am 32, 5' 4" and currently at 173. Weight loss has been slow, only down 10 lbs since March 3rd-but hey least I'm down some! MFP puts me at 1200 calories which I bumped to 1350 because I just felt tired alot... I walk and do Zumba Core at home everday so my week would look kind of like this:

M-zumba for 45 min
T- walk for 30
W-Zumba for 35
TH - Zumba for 45
F-walk for 30
Saturday Zumba for an hour and walk 30-45
Sunday same as Saturday

I have been reading a ton of posts about TDEE, NEAT, etc which kind of leaves me confused...Any help would be appreciated Also, eat back excersie calories or not?

THANKS!

MFP gives you credit (extra calories) for exercise only after you log it (NEAT). MFP as designed expects you to eat calories back. 1200 + exercise = NET calories. Example 1200 net is your goal.....log in a 300 calorie workout....eat 1500 which brings you back to 1200 "net." This just gets you back to the original deficit. The problem with this is many exercises in MFP's database are generous. Eating back too many calories takes away from your deficit.....eating too few leaves you tired and irritable. You are more likely to binge and more likely to lose muscle + fat....as opposed to mostly fat.****

TDEE includes exercise up front. You take a percentage off that number.....you eat the same calories everyday. When you exercise regularly, when you don't want up/down calories, this is a good choice.

Ideally both NEAT & TDEE get you to the same number. IDEALLY because it's easy to set them up different ways......1 pound a week in MFP......20% in TDEE....not necessarily the same value.

****Strength training is important for hanging onto lean muscle....it signals your body "hey, I'm using that."

FitMelody4Life

Honestly at your height and weight you could and should be eating more calories. If you are so low in calories right now you have nowhere to drop down from as you get smaller and your body needs less calories. You can easily get away with eating 1600-1700 calories a day (as long as you are accurately and diligently weighing and tracking everything).