Am I eating enough?? 1200 cals

CupcakeCrusoe

Nope, I eat about 1800 calories a day, sometimes more, yesterday I ate 4000 haha, I am 218 lbs 5'7, and do about 5 hours of cardio and strength training a week.

Lol. Do you eat back the calories you burn? Just curious. I've read so many different opinions about this

No, I would go to iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ and key in all your information, but when you key in how often you workout, you only use strength training not cardio. And this will give you how many calories you should be eating a day without eating back the calories you burn. So I eat about the same calories each day, whether or not I have worked out that day, unless I have a cheat day (and I usually do at least once a week). There is a facebook group called IIFYM women, that gives a lot of advice, I used to just eat 1200 calories a day, it can work at first but it's not maintainable.

This. Listen to this and REALLY LISTEN.

I tried doing 1200 cal/day for a while and I was miserable.
When I was miserable, I allowed myself "treats"
When I allowed those treats, I felt bad and didn't log them
Then didn't log anything
Sometimes for weeks.
So my weight loss has been stalled for more than a year.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

I'm telling you. Please. IIFYM.com. If you are happy while you're losing, it's going to be easier to stick with. Life's short, eat a cupcake (if it fits in your macros).

likewhoa712

Nope, I eat about 1800 calories a day, sometimes more, yesterday I ate 4000 haha, I am 218 lbs 5'7, and do about 5 hours of cardio and strength training a week.

Lol. Do you eat back the calories you burn? Just curious. I've read so many different opinions about this

No, I would go to iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ and key in all your information, but when you key in how often you workout, you only use strength training not cardio. And this will give you how many calories you should be eating a day without eating back the calories you burn. So I eat about the same calories each day, whether or not I have worked out that day, unless I have a cheat day (and I usually do at least once a week). There is a facebook group called IIFYM women, that gives a lot of advice, I used to just eat 1200 calories a day, it can work at first but it's not maintainable.

That calculator says 1968 calories a day, that's wayy more than any other one... But I did request the join the group, thanks

TeaBea

Nope, I eat about 1800 calories a day, sometimes more, yesterday I ate 4000 haha, I am 218 lbs 5'7, and do about 5 hours of cardio and strength training a week.

Lol. Do you eat back the calories you burn? Just curious. I've read so many different opinions about this

MFP as designed expects you to eat your exercise calories back. The deficit was built in with zero exercise. The problem is that MFP give generous calorie burn estimates. Many people eat 1/2 back. You are eating them back to fuel your workouts & keep lean muscle mass. 1200 only.....then exercise beyond that is scary low. You might feel light headed, etc.

Other people will eat none back......because they are using a different method. TDEE less a percent includes exercise up front, and averages out the daily number.

Eat enough to be sustainable. Eat enough to keep lean muscle mass....the more weight you have to lose....the less of an issue this will be.

EvieJ111

If you are planning to start working out, I would say definitely up your calories.

likewhoa712

Thank you everyone! I changed my goal to lose 1.5 a week and that upped it to 1480 calories a day so I'll see how I do with that and going to the gym next week etc.