New and need help..

bluefox9er

Hi everyone..I am new to the forums and have been disciplined to try and loose some weight and complete my exercise and diet diary as accurate as possible.

I went a bit too crazy and am exercising off about 1000 calories almost every other day but my calorific intake is usually considerably less than a 1000.

On my food page it says the extra calories I have burned off means I can eat more...this sounds suspect?? I could easily make those exercised calories up with my weakness of red coca cola and dorritos but think this might be a BAD thing to do!!

I believe my body is in some sort of starvation mode, thats what the food diary says at the end when i have entered everything I have eaten,but this last week I have managed to lose almost 5 lbs.

I am now thinking that i should aim to have my calorific intake from food to be no more than 1500 regardless of the extra 1000 calories a day i am burning through exercise...am i doing something wrong? Or should i factor those extra burnt calories in as 'allowable luxuries'? clearly nutrition AND exercise is new to me :-(

any responses or friends gratefully accepted.

Dee

Newfiedan

read the first post here it should clear up all your questions and fyi 10000 cals a day for a man or woman is not enough to keep proper metabolic function I highly recommend you pick up Tom Venuto's book called Burn the fat feed the muscle to learn healthy and proper weight loss. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/225765-how-mfp-works link for you to explain how it is setup and why you get to eat those cals back. Also a link explaining starvation mode http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226600-rename-starvation-mode-to-survival-mode

A_New_Horizon

Whether to eat back your exercise calories is different for every person. Personally, I eat back atleast half of my exercise calories otherwise my body does go into starvation mode. Just eat something healthy (almonds is a good one). My allowed calories for the day without exercising is 1270 (which is extremely low for me), but I usually burn atleast 300 calories and usually more. I eat atleast half of them back. Make sure to be getting your water in; it is very important for you body. Is your diary open? Mine is open to the public if you want to see what I eat for suggestions. The system is telling you that your body is in starvation mode because you aren't eating back some of your exercise calories. It is important. The system is right.

A_New_Horizon

Just looked at your diary, you aren't eating enough.

rachelleahsmom

You should eat your exercise calories back because MFP sets a calorie goal for you that should help you lose without any exercise. That being said, don't eat the calories back with chips and pop. Put something nutritious in your body to help build and maintain strength. Our goal, hopefully, is to be healthy and thinner, not just thinner. Good luck!

baisleac

Your NET calories (on your home page) should be as close to the daily goal MFP set for you as possible.

Your REMAINING calories (on your homepage and food diary page) should be as close to zero as possible.

MFP builds in a deficit for you based on the information you gave it: height, weight, lifestyle, goal weight loss, etc.. All you need to do is follow the calorie goals it gives you.

jeff261159

Basically your body needs a certain level of calories to perform. In my case its 1350. What i do is aim to eat within 10% of this. If I do excercise with a value of 500, i theoretically need 1850. I have been using these figures as a benchmark and to date I have lost 26LBS since february.

The body is like driving a car, if the fuel is low you take your foot off the pedal and conserve the fuel you have. This is what the body when you have a low food intake, the body conserves fat. I hope this helps. Good luck!

serendipityrr

Hi there....
You are only eating 600 calories a day? That is so unhealthy I don't even know where to begin. Your body will burn less if it thinks it's starving, you won't have enough energy to keep up with your workouts, and you might get sick.....your immune system needs vitamins to stay healthy. It would be impossible to get everything you need nutritionally with only 600 calories per day. Please start eating more....you can find out how many you should be eating by looking it up on your profile page here....under goals. It will tell you how many calories you need to eat there, based on your weight and height and how much you want to lose. If your goal is to get healthy, you need food.....protein is what your muscles are made of....so you want to keep/build those, yes?
lol

Anyway.....I am sure you can figure it out....and there are lots of people here who can help to. Or even your Dr. if you want more specific information....there is support when you know where to look!

If you want, you can add me as a friend.

Have a great day!

a_freeman

I'm eating about 1600 calories a day and have been consistently loosing at 2 to 3 lbs per week. I burn 200 to 400 calories per day doing cardio. So, for my 2 cents (pence), I think you should eat at least 1,600. I've also kept my carbs low, around 20 per day (Atkins). Good luck.

JMCade

You need to eat back the calories you exercise off. That is you fuel. It's like filling you car with gas and then driving 300 miles. If you don't fill up again, you're not going anywhere! If you don't get enough nutrition, you won't have the energy or strength to exercise.