I dont know..do you know?

The_Hungry_Atheist

So I wanted to eat more than 1200 calories today because I was actually hungry! Am I doing it right to eat whatever I want over 1200 calories and then exercise and burn the amount of calories I ate over 1200? BTW spin bikes or no freaking joke! I thought I was going to fall apart at my knees and elbows...wobbled around for a good 10 minutes! :laugh:

nutmegoreo

The MFP program is set up for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise. Your calorie deficit is built into your daily amount. That being said, you probably could be eating more than 1200/day and still lose weight steadily and healthily.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

The_Hungry_Atheist

So when it asked me when I started out I chose sedentary. So is it thinking I am exercising and set me at 1200? That seems a bit absurd to set me so low. I do not exercise unless I want to eat over calories. I apologize if this is stupid to ask but I am very confused atm.

cherrilovee

MFP will allow you to exercise/burn calories and eat back those calories. That's how it's designed. What's your height and weight though, if you don't mind me asking. 1200 is pretty low.

The_Hungry_Atheist

I am 5'4 and as of this morning I weighed in at 231. Today made one week so I lost 5 lbs but that seems like the norm from what I read on the forums. I haven't really been hungry until today...and I do not want to hit this plateau everyone speaks of so I would rather eat and exercise than starve and stay fat. I do not do anything all day but sit on my butt and get up to let the dogs in or out and to go to the bathroom and eat. I feel well enough now though that I actually want to get up and do stuff, so that is why I am asking about this stuff.

Lozibeth

At your height/weight your BMR is around 1800 cals - this is how much energy your body needs to stay alive if you were in a coma....even with a mostly sedentary lifestyle 1200 cals is low and probably not sustainable in the long run.

To maintain your current weight you would eat around 2200 cal per day so if you want to lose 1 lb per week you subtract 500 cals per day from your total = 1700 cals per day. I'm guessing that you have set MFP to lose 2 lbs per week and that's why you have a limit of 1200 (i.e 2200 - 1000 cals per day = 1200)...you can try this if you want but absolutely eat back any calories you burn through exercise so your net calories are never lower than 1200.

If you read the sexy pants thread that nutmegoreo has given you all the info is in there.

nutmegoreo

At your height/weight your BMR is around 1800 cals - this is how much energy your body needs to stay alive if you were in a coma....even with a mostly sedentary lifestyle 1200 cals is low and probably not sustainable in the long run.

To maintain your current weight you would eat around 2200 cal per day so if you want to lose 1 lb per week you subtract 500 cals per day from your total = 1700 cals per day. I'm guessing that you have set MFP to lose 2 lbs per week and that's why you have a limit of 1200 (i.e 2200 - 1000 cals per day = 1200)...you can try this if you want but absolutely eat back any calories you burn through exercise so your net calories are never lower than 1200.

If you read the sexy pants thread that nutmegoreo has given you all the info is in there.

My internet was down, so I couldn't respond. I agree with this here. If you are going with TDEE method (described in the Sexypants link), you would set your daily target as described and not eat back exercise calories. If you want to stick with the MFP calculations (honestly, I get that this is all pretty overwhelming right now, so you may want to do this for now), it is important that you eat back your exercise calories. Both methods should yield approximately the same weekly calorie intake.

For example, I am also short (5'2") MFP gives me 1200 for 2lbs/week or 1370 for 1lb/week. Using TDEE, I can eat 1700 but that includes my exercise calories. I like being able to eat 1700 and still lose. That may change as I get closer to goal. It is important to reevaluate as time passes.

You are correct that a big loss is fairly common for the first week or two. It is important that you find a way to do this so that you are not hungry and miserable because there will be weeks when the scale doesn't move. It is a lying SOB, so I highly recommend taking pictures and measurements for additional proof that this is working. It is a process that takes much longer than anyone really wants it to. Everyone wants the weight gone overnight. It won't happen that way. Best thing you can do is make sure you can stick with it.

Hopefully something in this long-winded post is helpful :flowerforyou:

The_Hungry_Atheist

Thank you guys so much I am going to eat more and try and exercise daily as well!

Aaron_K123

Personally I think getting into the mentality that you can eat what you want as long as you exercise to burn it off is a rather unhealthy way of viewing it.

Exercise is for fitness and exercise requires you to eat more in order to fuel your efforts towards fitness. Exercise is not just something you do in order to eat more.

That said I'd be curious about your age/weight/height and gender because 1200 calories as a goal is extremely low for almost everyone unless you are a 60+ year old 4'10'' tall 110 pound woman. This could explain why you are hungry.

FP4HSharon

Be careful though, unless you're using machines that give you your calorie burn to use. My Fitness Pal is notorious for Overestimating calorie burn. When I tried to eat back all my cals, I gained. So I only eat back the cals where the machine tells me what the burn is, not anything that is estimated by MFP. Doing that I lose. So you might have to adjust depending on your results.