Newbie needs help

missvivian

Hi,

Today is day 2 on myfitnesspal. I'm confused about how many calories I should be consuming. I set my goal at 1,100 calories. I earned 270 calories in exercise so it says that my daily goal was 1,370. I consumed 1,169 (which, without exercise exceeded my allotted 1,100 calories) and saw the message that I ate too few calories and may be putting my body into starvation mode.

So does this mean that I need to consume all my earned exercise calories? I thought consuming my allotted calories and then earning exercise calories was good and would help me lose faster. How do I lose while consuming what I earned in exercise?

I hope this makes sense! Thanks!

Rae6503

This site sets you up with a calories deficit based on your weight loss goal (1/lb a week is the best goal, so 500 calories burned more a day than eaten). This deficit exists if you exercise or not. When you exercise it will tell you to eat more in order to maintain the set deficit.

missvivian

So it's recommended I eat all of what I earned in exercise?

mama_mia3

question. did you set your calorie goal yourself? i'm almost wondering if that might be a bit too low? but idk... If MFP figured that for you then I guess its okay ...afterall, you are only 100 below my goal of 1200 and MFP set that for me!! It's always a big debate on the forum as to eat or not eat your exercise calories. My advice is to trust your body. If you're hungry after a workout - EAT! Just be smart about it. I only log the exercise that gets my heart pumping. I try to eat at least 50-75% of them back, but I'm usually pretty hungry after a good sweat fest...sometimes I'm not. Lots of ppl will be either "pro-eat" or "anti-eat" but Im pretty firm on listening to my body.

The 'warning' at the bottom.... i get that alot. I eat alot of fresh vegetables.. MFP goes off numbers only. it doesnt look at the kinds of foods your eating or that you eating 6 small meals a day, so if you're eating clean i wouldnt worry too much about it.

missvivian

Thanks for the information! Yes, i originally manually set my goal at 1,100. I changed it to the recommended 1,200 and didn't get that warning even though I didn't eat all my earned calories. But you're right, sometimes, I can go without being hungry and other days, after a good workout, I'm starving. So going forward, I will listen to my body.