I don't know how much I should eat

rosechui

Dear all,
Since I am new and I don't have much friend here, English is not my mother touge. So I don't know if it is my wrong understanding on calories intake.

I am confused on I should eat the BMR calories or I should make the "net" intake of my BMR value.

I have count my BMR is 1300 cal.

So, I eat 1300 calories a day and then I swim for 1 hour burn 500 calories so my net is 800. I get my weigh lost around 1-1.5 lb
per week.

But if I eat 1300 calories without doing exercise, I cannot loss any weight within that week (Usually the week of my menstruation cycle.)

If I eat just 800 calories and without doing any exercise, I just can lost less than 0.5 lb that week!!

I can still loss weight now if I just eat 1300 cal and exercise burn 500 cal. I just don't know I should remain on this. Will the net of 800 cal make my body become starving mode and make my metabolism slow down later?
I should eat the BMR cal + exercise so that I make my net cal value reach the BMR 1300 calories value?
Or
I should just eat the BMR cal and do exericse so that make my net cal value below the BMR value?

Kat120285

I would try the 1300 + however many calories you burn exercising. So, say you burn 500, eat 1800 and see how that works for your weight loss. It takes some experimenting because not one thing works for everyone.

absolament

A healthy body starts with good nutrition. Eat close to the suggested calories each day.

vbennett7

when you completed the information for My Fitness Pal and it told you the number of calories to eat-that is already an amount which will help you lose weight. Even if you don't exercise. If you exercise, try to eat back some of the calories. You can go 100 or 200 lower than the amount you are to eat in a day, but if you eat too much lower, you might not lose due to your body trying to save calories.
I eat at a Chinese restaurant about once a week. I don't eat much at the other meals of the day. For Chinese, I try to choose the dishes with lots of vegetables. I avoid too much of the fried foods, like egg rolls. I also choose fruit for dessert, not the cakes, etc. After this type of lunch, supper might be a bowl of cereal, or I have to exercise a lot to burn some of it off. Hope this helps.

Pebble321

Don't worry too much about the maths - it just gets confusing
Pay attention to the NET calories that MFP gives you and try eating this much for a while. If you aren't losing weight after a month or so, you might have to change things around a bit.

So, if MFP says you should eat 1300 for the day and you burn off 500 swimming, eat the 1800 or close to it (make it healthy stuff)!.
Most people recommend a net of at least 1200 calories a day, so 800 is probably too low. Although, because you aren't very tall then you might be OK on less.

Try it out and see how you go with the full amount of calories, you can adjust down if you need to.