Calorie counting

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shydee
shydee Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone! So I got some family members that signed up for mfp! I was soo excited to have them join me on here. Unfortunately 1 of my aunts was not a fan of her calorie intake. She thought it was far to low. 1200 I think. Anyway she ended up finding another calorie counter for us to be able to figure out what we should be at. When I calculated mine it told me I should be consuming 2100 calories this a a leap from what MFP has me consuming1280. I just feel more confused now about my calorie consuption am I eating way to less then what I should be??? This calorie counter is availble on mayoclinic.com if anyone is interested. please help!!!!

Replies

  • lilybug13
    lilybug13 Posts: 154
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    It probably calculated what you should eat to maintain and not lose weight...

    I actually just looked it up, and it is to maintain. So if you want to lose, you need to eat far less.
  • easilychanged
    easilychanged Posts: 14 Member
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    The calculator is for mainting your weight. Your Aunt is in for a shocker!
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    What I'm guessing is that case is whether or not exercise is factored in. MFP is one of the only (or maybe THE only) site that counts exercise separate. So you start with some base calorie amount, but you are expected to consume back the calories you burn exercising.

    Most other programs take an estimate of what your exercise would be and just give you that calorie allowance every day.

    So, for example, I typically eat around 2800 cals per day. My MFP baseline is 2500 and exercise is around 300 calories. 2500+300 = 2800. Since I'm pretty consistent with my exercise burn, I could just as well aim for 2800 calories/day and ignore exercise.
  • jhuguez
    jhuguez Posts: 15 Member
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    I went looking for the calorie counter on Mayo Clinic. I found a calorie counter that calculated what you needed to eat to maintain. MFP gives you a calorie count so that you can lose weight. So eating what MFP gave you should help you lose weight in a healthy way.
  • Chris_bee05
    Chris_bee05 Posts: 111 Member
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    I think it depends on what you tell MFP what you want to do. I told mine I want to lose 2 lbs per week and work out 4 day/week, so it gave me 1200. If you say you only want to lose 1lb a week and that you'll work out 7 days a week, it'll probably tell you more.

    Same goes for other websites. You have to make sure it's set to "lose" not "maintain". I've used calorie calculators on other websites that told me 1700 at the LOWEST range. I thought that was still a bit much, so I was pleased when MFP gave me 1200. That's about what I was going for anyway.
  • mrshickey
    mrshickey Posts: 239
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    I found this, one site told me to eat 1600, another said to eat 1150. MFP says to eat 1200 calories. it is really confusing!!! I guess its just trial and error, if u feel hungry all the time at 1200 calories, fornexample, maybe try upping it.
  • MyouTakara
    MyouTakara Posts: 45
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    I just checked out the site. It says the calculator tells you how many calories you need to MAINTAIN your weight, not to LOSE weight. Take that number and subtract 500 or so if your goal is to lose a pound a week. (1900 for me to maintain, so 1400 to lose a pound a week. Myfitnesspal gives me 1770, so I like their number better.)
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    ok so I just did me and the huge difference is that at mayoclinic.com, they have asked you to input your activity level INCLUDING your exercise per se.....

    if you go by the thinking that you will log exercise in separately and just use your regular daily life including work activites then it should seem more accurate.

    For example: I entered sedentary because I am at my computer most of the days with a little laundry/housekeeping...BUT I do exercise vigorously for an hour a day. If I include that, mayoclinic will pre-add those calories in (and usually that won't be accurate because they have not idea of my intensity level and thus calories burned which will change daily)

    so I'd use MFP, re-think and accurately choose your activity level....add your exercise cals back in accurately too. And, then you will come up with a better calculation of what to eat>

    Best of Luck!
  • shydee
    shydee Posts: 20 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I don't think my aunt is trying to lose which would make since:) I however am trying to lose 50-60 lbs I think I will stick with MFP. And just knowing I can consume what I excercise off will give me more of an allowance.

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