I am wondering why....

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sarah307
sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am supposed to eat so many calories???

I understand basic nutrition from working at the YMCA for about three years of my life and being interested in fitness in general myself. And taking classes for school (radiology major) .. I have researched in my anatomy books for some scientific information. Maybe I already know the answer, but just want a more detailed explanation???

I see that guys twice my size (muscle, not obese) can only have 1200-1400 calories a day and this doesn't make sense. Maybe I have my settings wrong or they have their settings wrong??

My settings are set to lose 0.5 lbs a week and I have "lightly active" set. Maybe they have "sedentary" set??

I am only 3 lbs from my goal and decided to change my goal weight to about 5 pounds lower just because I want to maintain between that and my goal weight.. and it gave me more calories ... but still on the "lose 0.5/week" settings... ?? not maintenance setting...

weird?? what is the deal with this? I feel like I need a scientific reason. haha :)

Replies

  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
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    That's probably their BMR. Your BMR is lower, but its not the only thing MFP uses to set your calories. It also adds in your daily activity that you selected when you signd up, and also adds any exercise you log in.
  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,171 Member
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    normally in a day on avarange to maintain you would need to eat 2000 cal (depending on height and weight) then to lose 0.5lb a week you would only need to eat 250 less. which means you should be eating around 1750. so as you arent losing much per week your calorie intake would be quite normal
  • McghanK
    McghanK Posts: 120
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    Your body needs more calories when you are doing more excercise. Also it all depends on you body weight....somtimes you have to up your calories to loose weight or you will hit a plateu and you won't loose weight. There is a thread here talking about uping your calories . Maybe google the scientific facts for this.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    Just to note, any guy under 1500 has HIS cals wrong (1500 for men is the equivalent of 1200 for women) , not you.

    Might help to read these threads that explain how MFP gets the numbers it gives you:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    Also, some people probably have more to lose than you, so they might have a higher deficit. The closer you get to goal/healthy BMI, the more conservative the deficit needs to be.

    ETA: I should clarify...a man who is much shorter than average may do ok with less than 1500, just as very petite women can sometimes do ok with less than 1200. But that is very rarely necessary and requires close attention to nutrition.
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    Just to note, any guy under 1500 has HIS cals wrong (1500 for men is the equivalent of 1200 for women) , not you.

    Might help to read these threads that explain how MFP gets the numbers it gives you:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    Also, some people probably have more to lose than you, so they might have a higher deficit. The closer you get to goal/healthy BMI, the more conservative the deficit needs to be.

    yeah, this is what i was thinking! thanks guys

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