keeping in the nutrional guide lines

amandagorder

HI im new to MFP but I have read a few blogs helping me along the guidelines of how to use the nutritional tools. what I have learned so far is that since my goal is to lose weight im eating 1200 calories, but I do an aerobic class 30 min every day and I walk/run 30 every day too! I was told to try and eat back at least half the calories I burn ? right ? I mean its a diet ! why?!? so I diet alllll day long then at the end of the day I have 500 calories still...OMG im eating 3 meals and a snack each meal is about 200 to 400 cal. and I drink at least 12 8 oz of water. I AM NOT HUNGRY. so do I force my self to eat it ? then if I do eat it some of the sodium/ sugar/ and some times the protein measurements turn red. why are they red? red seems so negative. why don't they change when I burn cals ? PLEASE HELP ME
by the way during the other post I've read every one wants to know intended goal so im 4'11 144 wanting to lose 40 thanks!!!!!:flowerforyou:

editorgrrl

Set your goal no higher than 1 lb. per week—which is more than 1,200 calories.

Then read the Sexypants post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-Sexypants

terbusha

I would throw in resistance training. Doing lots of cardio workouts on a low calorie diet can lead to a repressed metabolism. Dial up the intensity in your workouts. It'll help keep your metabolism up and get you quicker results.

Check out this video on the subject.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk

Also, you need to get to at least the minimum calories for the day. If you want to body to function properly, you need to fuel it properly. If you're having trouble getting to your calorie goal, have more snacks throughout the day. Also, work in more calorie dense foods like rice or sweet potatoes.

Allan

diannethegeek

HI im new to MFP but I have read a few blogs helping me along the guidelines of how to use the nutritional tools. what I have learned so far is that since my goal is to lose weight im eating 1200 calories, but I do an aerobic class 30 min every day and I walk/run 30 every day too! I was told to try and eat back at least half the calories I burn ? right ? I mean its a diet ! why?!?

MFP sets a calorie level for you not taking your planned exercise into account. This calorie level already has the deficit you need for weight loss built into it. When you exercise on top of that you make that deficit larger, possibly larger than your body wants to handle safely. So MFP adds more calories to your goal to keep you at a safe, even level for weight loss. It's only counter-productive if you're exercising solely to lose weight. But I'm sure you have other fitness goals, right?

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

so I diet alllll day long then at the end of the day I have 500 calories still...OMG im eating 3 meals and a snack each meal is about 200 to 400 cal. and I drink at least 12 8 oz of water. I AM NOT HUNGRY. so do I force my self to eat it ?

Keep in mind that hunger isn't always the best indicator that you're getting enough to eat. The hormones that control our hunger signals can be knocked out of whack by too many things. If you need to eat more calories but don't want to add a lot of extra food to your stomach, then consider adding some calorie dense foods. Things like nuts, peanut butter, avocado, full fat dairy, cheese, Greek yogurt, ice cream, dark chocolate, less lean cuts of meat, protein shakes & smoothies, fruit juices, full calorie sauces and dressings, etc. These pack a lot of calories without adding a lot of volume to your food.

then if I do eat it some of the sodium/ sugar/ and some times the protein measurements turn red. why are they red? red seems so negative. why don't they change when I burn cals ? PLEASE HELP ME
by the way during the other post I've read every one wants to know intended goal so im 4'11 144 wanting to lose 40 thanks!!!!!:flowerforyou:

Calories are what matter for weight loss. As long as you are in your calorie range you should lose weight (assuming everything is being entered accurately). Your macros (protein, fat, carbs) help with things like body composition, hunger levels, etc. You can be in the red or green on any of these numbers and still lose weight and you can tweak the numbers any way you want to fit your personal goals.

For instance, protein helps to retain and repair your lean muscle mass after exercise. A lot of us think that MFP sets their default protein level too low, anyway. Being in the red on protein isn't a bad thing and I would argue that most people should specifically try to be in the red on protein every day if they're using MFP's defaults.

Linnaea27

Lots of people have answered most of your questions, but I want to point out that to reach your calorie goal without feeling overly full, you can eat some fun stuff/things you would normally eat. Drastic changes in diet content don't work on the long term. . . it sounds like you're probably eating lots of salad and meats, which is very healthy but if that's much of what I ate, I'd be way too full and way under my calorie goal too.

It is fine to have some (or sometimes even all) the goal numbers turn red. They do adjust in quantity, like the calorie goal, when you exercise. It's OK to eat extra protein (especially if you are doing strength training, which you need to do, since that way once you get rid of the fat you'll have nice muscles to show off). It's not so good to have excess sodium or sugar, but it happens to all of us and as long as it's not a totally massive amount (particularly of the sodium) you're fine.

Eat back your exercise calories because if you don't, the net calories you are taking in may be lower than your basic metabolic rate (BMR), the amount you need to survive if you were completely immobile and never did anything. That's not healthy and won't help you lose weight-- on the contrary, it will encourage your body to hang on to the weight.

I successfully lost the weight I needed to by eating back almost all my exercise calories.

JTick

Do you feel that you need to be hungry to successfully lose weight? Because my 86 lbs lost can tell you that's not true. Trust the process. Eating 50% of your exercise calories is a great place to start.

amandagorder

Hey thanks every body !!! make some sense. I have a hard time eating some of these "nutrient dense foods" because of a food allergy (pumpkins, squash peanut butter:brokenheart: ) . and I was previously on a HCG diet eating willy-nilly is weird for me. I will add some of my calories to my breakfast starting right about now !!! thanks