Am I eating the Right Amount of Calories?

pantoinette

Hi All,

I'm not sure 100% how to use MFP - whether I should always hit my calorie goal and then exercise some of the energy away or whether I am meant to stay under the calorie goal and just exercise away what I eat?

Any advice would be great as I don't want to spend ages getting it wrong and being disappointed with the results!

x

Cytherea

When you filled out your information, MFP gave you a calorie goal to hit daily. You should eat that much every day. On days that you exercise, you will see when you enter in exercise, it will add calories back to your diary. If you don't have a HRM, you should eat back probably around half of those to be safe. MFP has already calculated you to be at a deficit, so when you exercise, you need to make sure that you eat more to be properly fueling your body.

pantoinette

I don't even think I could hit that much every day!

plummersmate

I'm new and was wondering the same. I'm not hungry enough to eat the extra calories that exercise adds back (well, maybe just a few of them). It's been easy this weekend with hubby away so not had to cater for anyone else. Next week will be the test when I'm serving up foods I've banned for myself (bread, pasta, potatoes - oh and alcohol).

Cytherea

I don't even think I could hit that much every day!

Really? I swear to you that I am not trying to sound mean, but I doubt that. Your daily goal is 1430 calories. Is it actually possible that you are burning close to 1000 calories in exercise, like your diary states? That sounds pretty unlikely to me. Even if that IS true- if you are using the MFP calculations, you should only eat back about half of that because they may or may not be accurate. Which would put you up to 1930 calories- less than 2000, which is considered what is "normal" to eat per day (if you look at packages of food and such, they are based on a 2000 calorie a day diet). According to your ticker, you have a lot of weight to lose. Unless you have a medical condition or are/were on a medication that caused you to gain weight, I can guarantee you that you didn't gain all of that weight that you want to lose by eating under 2000 calories a day!

Next week will be the test when I'm serving up foods I've banned for myself (bread, pasta, potatoes - oh and alcohol).

This is a really bad way to go about this. If you want to lose weight the healthy way and keep it off, you need to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a diet. Unless you are prepared to give up bread, pasta, potatoes, and alcohol for the rest of your life (which is silly), then why do it now? Everything in moderation. Making something banned or forbidden is only going to make you want it more. It is ok to have those things, as long as you keep your portion sizes down- have ONE measured portion, and make sure that it fits into your calorie goals for the day. Forbidding/banning yourself is just setting yourself up for failure.

Persipan

I'm new and was wondering the same. I'm not hungry enough to eat the extra calories that exercise adds back (well, maybe just a few of them). It's been easy this weekend with hubby away so not had to cater for anyone else. Next week will be the test when I'm serving up foods I've banned for myself (bread, pasta, potatoes - oh and alcohol).

I think you've pretty much answered your own question there - those exercise calories allow you to eat a bit more, so nothing is 'banned'. If you were trying to eat all your exercise calories in carrots or something, then yes, it might get a bit much. But in real life, you're going to want to eat the occasional potato... so do!

pantoinette

Really? I swear to you that I am not trying to sound mean, but I doubt that. Your daily goal is 1430 calories. Is it actually possible that you are burning close to 1000 calories in exercise, like your diary states? That sounds pretty unlikely to me. Even if that IS true- if you are using the MFP calculations, you should only eat back about half of that because they may or may not be accurate.

My main problem is that I am a very fussy eater, so I find it hard to eat that many calories during a day. The exercise that I did on the day that you were looking at was 60 minutes of aerobics which came in at 700+cals and 45 mins of walking at a slow pace at 2mph which came in at 222 cals. I find it hard to force food down when I'm not hungry - I mean I try to eat all day with fruit and root vegetables so that I don't go home and eat a lot of stodge. (which was my main problem before)

Are there any foods that you would suggest to bring my calories up? Pasta and rice and things like that aren't options as I don't eat them which is a shame as I know these would be good options.

Cytherea

My main problem is that I am a very fussy eater, so I find it hard to eat that many calories during a day. The exercise that I did on the day that you were looking at was 60 minutes of aerobics which came in at 700+cals and 45 mins of walking at a slow pace at 2mph which came in at 222 cals. I find it hard to force food down when I'm not hungry - I mean I try to eat all day with fruit and root vegetables so that I don't go home and eat a lot of stodge. (which was my main problem before)

Are there any foods that you would suggest to bring my calories up? Pasta and rice and things like that aren't options as I don't eat them which is a shame as I know these would be good options.

I'm pretty picky too, actually, lol. There are a lot of things that you could eat that are high in calories but still healthy- the main one is nuts. You can eat a handful of nuts, which won't seem like a lot of food, but it does have a very high caloric content. Or nut butters, if you prefer to eat it that way, lol. Beans are pretty calorie heavy as well... not that you're going to eat them on their own, but you can add them into what you are making for dinner or whatever. Also, you could add drinks. Not necessarily soda, but anything other than water has calories in it. You could have a glass of juice, or even milk... or make a protein shake and/or a smoothie.

Are you eating enough protein? Especially if your workouts are that intense, you need to make sure that you are getting enough. And that will bump up your calories a bit too. Fruits and veggies are great but you're right, they don't have a lot of cals, which is why you need to eat more than just that.

You don't eat pasta/rice at all? Do you eat other grains, like quinoa? Or oats? You can always add those to your diet too.

Feel free to friend me, if you like.

pantoinette

I don't eat grains at all really - I keep trying to eat porridge but it just doesn't make me feel good at all. I eat a lot of chicken to be honest so I do get protein in my diet. I think I may try the nuts thing as I know they have protein too don't they?

To be honest, my workouts aren't always that intense!

I'm trying to drink more water to be honest with you, as I never have really done that before so I think I may try and flush myself out first!

I will have a go and take your adice to eat more lol

Cytherea

Yup, nuts have protein too.

Water is definitely important. I struggle with that too. Ugh. lol