Am I eating enough calories?

leahxxoo
leahxxoo Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
According to this, I should be eating 1,430 calories each day in order to lose around 2 lbs per week. I work 4 days a week, standing up for 8 hours each shift and I walk 20 minutes to the station and back. I also go on 8 mile walks 2-3 days per week. Do I need to eat back calories burnt by exercise or is it not important? I don't feel like I need to eat more but I don't want my body to go into starvation mode or whatever, I've read bad things about that on here..

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Starvation mode doesn't exist. The activity level you put in (I would imagine lightly active), is accounted for in your daily activities. The 8 mile walks, you would input and eat back probably half the calories for (half as most exercises are over estimated). Best of luck!
  • 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 ~1600 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
  • nltg13
    nltg13 Posts: 24 Member
    I've always eaten back exercise calories and loose at the rate MFP says I will (roughly). If you're hungry, eat back your exercise calories, if you feel fine without them then you might not want to eat them all back.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    Starvation mode doesn't exist. The activity level you put in (I would imagine lightly active), is accounted for in your daily activities. The 8 mile walks, you would input and eat back probably half the calories for (half as most exercises are over estimated). Best of luck!

    This. Plus, 2 pounds per week isn't realistic for someone with about 20 pounds left to lose (going by the ticker on OP's profile). Try for 1 pound per week instead.

    Also agree with terbusha, as many of the numbers you get (calorie goal, burns, even food calories) are estimates so there's some trial and error involved. If you're losing a pound per week, you're right where you should be. There will be fluctuations mostly due to water weight (sodium, hormones, exercise, etc) but if you're not losing after a few weeks, that's likely due to overestimating burns/underestimating food intake.

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