Eating back activity level?

whateverfloats

Hi there.

I've just started counting calories after letting my diet go to hell while working at a cake shop, and I am still getting used to the formulas on this site. I'm about 5'8.5" and 135lbs, trying to get back to the 125-130 region before I go back to school in September. I guess I'd be 'lightly active' since I am on my feet all day at work and I walk around a lot on the weekends.

After putting all these stats in MFP, it says I should eat a net of 1200kcals per day. I keep hearing you shouldn't eat less than that, meaning that when I exercise, I need to eat back those calories. I'm still not 100% sure why that would be since 'starvation mode' seems like a bit of a myth. Still, I'm aiming for a weekly average of 1200 Cals/day even if some days I consume 1000Cals and some days it's more like 1400Cals. It's just very difficult to eat the exact same amount of calories every day.

At any rate, MFP doesn't count your activity level as exercise. Does this mean I don't have to eat back those Calories because my body is in some sense 'used to' them? Additionally, should I add in my exercise (running/lifting/ergometer approx 3 times a week) or should that just be part of my activity level?

Thanks for helping out a newbie!

mistyb47711

you might find this interesting........explains it in detail....got this off one of the threads.
http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

MzBug

You must have set MFP at a 2 pound loss per week to make it give you the 1200 with a lightly active classification. That may be too low for you. Since you only have 5-10 pounds to lose you may want to set it for .5 to 1 pound per week. The 1200 isn't so much for dropping into starvation mode (unless you go much lower every day for days, weeks or months), they have found that when you go below 1200 it is very difficult to get in the necessary nutrition to keep your body functioning optimally. The more active you are the more nutrition your body needs to keep going, so don't short yourself! Remember there is a difference between nutrition and just food calories.

MFP is set up to add exercise calories to your daily goal. The original goal they give only takes daily life activities into account. If you exercise OTHER than your normal daily life (or work) activities you would want to log them and have the calories added to your daily goal.

Give the 1200 a shot....if you find that you are not feeling energetic and "up" and you are not losing the weight you want to lose... re-think upping the cals to something like 1400-1500 if you are not eatting back the exercise cals.

johnhowson

Hi I am not sure what starvation mode is either but I found an explanation here
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/burning_calories/starvation.htm
I would advise you to put in your exercise and work outs. I think maybe I have an opposite problem to some people because I find that I need to make an effort to eat as many calories as MFP says I should be doing. But this website has still worked for me.

whateverfloats

I set it at 1.5 lbs/week. My family is having a reunion at the lake in the first week of August and I was hoping to look good in my swim suit by then. I suppose I should just keep doing what I've been doing for a bit, by adding in vigorous exercise but assuming light exercise under my activity level.

I'm still not sure why MFP holds 1200kcals as the baseline regardless of activity level. It just seems to me that if you are really active on a regular basis you should be eating more than 1200kcal no matter how much weight you want to lose. Perhaps it's just a flaw with the algorithm.