How many calories?

cardioqueen82

I am just wondering - I know I am supposed to eat at least 1200 calories per day. If I exercise, it says that I get extra calories - but since I am supposed to eat like, what, 500 less calories per day (or work off 500 per day) to lose a pound, should I still eat only 1200 calories or so per day, even if I work off some calories, or do I eat the 1200 plus whatever else I burn off, to still lose a pound or two per week? I'm confused how this works!

kneeki

If you're trying to lose weight, times your body weight by 12. That number is the amount you should be eating.

For example, I weigh 170 lbs.

170 x 12 = 2040 calories consumed daily.

soulofmyshoe

You can check the stickies in the forum, but the general concensus seems to be that you should eat the calories you earn from exercise. If, including exercise calories, you are running over a 1000 calorie/day deficit, or are consuming less than 1200ish calories a day, your body will eventually start to compensate for this by slowing down normal metabolic functions in order to conserve energy. This, in turn, will make you have less energy in your daily routine and will result in a lower level of energy consumption when at rest, both of which are counterproductive to losing weight. I learned all of this a few days ago, so please do research further than my reply, but there are a number of seemingly very well informed posters in the forums that support this idea.

cardioqueen82

I am assuming then, that if you want to lose weight, you subtract the 500 per day from that? Like mine, I weight 153 pounds, so 153 x 12 = 1836, but I want to lose a pound or two per week, so should I try to stay under like 1325 calories, then?

cardioqueen82

And if I want to lose 2 pounds per week (which I do), should I be aiming for like eating 1325 calories or so but burning 1,000 calories per day? I am really horrible at math so this makes no sense to me, whatsoever.

kneeki

To lose weight, never go below a 10 multiplier. Any lower and you start teetering on "starvation mode". If you really want a deficit, you could do 1530 calories daily, but if you're exercising as well, you may cause more harm than good.

If you are exercising however, I highly recommend you use a multiplier of 12.

kwest_4_fitness

This works for me, but what's right for me may not work for you: I consistently come in under calories every day, even without exercise. I'm on the old WW points plan and I workout daily (strength, cardio, combo of both, etc). I've lost 40 lbs since April. There is not one specific right way. Often, you'll have to change things up from week to week if you hit a plateau.

1hotmama

It's net calories. So, I'm also set up to eat 1200 calories a day, but my goal is to burn 400 calories per day as well. So, if I burn all 400 calories during my exercise; then I get to eat 1600 ( 1200+400) calories and still loose weight (10 pounds so far). In general you don't want to have 300 or more calories left at the end of the day to eat. Your body will then start to store anything it can because it goes into starvation mode.

Hope that was helpful.

jcfisk1

Yes...you need to eat 1200 calories/day in order to lose 1 pd a week. If you exercise and burn, lets say 350 calories, then you need to eat back those calories. So it would mean that you could eat 1550 that day altogether. These are bonus calories!!! Love those. It motivates me to exercise everyday, so that I can eat those extra calories. Or I will sometimes save them up (the exercise calories), for a few days if I know that I will be going out to dinner or have to have birthday cake or want to go have a few beer!!
Good luck and hope this helped!

maadee91

If you're bad at math, then let MFP do the work for you. When you set up your profile, you should have put in how much you want to lose, the type of lifestyle you lead, etc. It'll tell you how many calories you can consume in a day . That number is ALREADY set up to make you lose those two pounds. If you exercise, you can eat back those calories... like jcfisk said, they're bonus. Trust the program... just don't make the numbers go red

kgesq

Yes...you need to eat 1200 calories/day in order to lose 1 pd a week. If you exercise and burn, lets say 350 calories, then you need to eat back those calories. So it would mean that you could eat 1550 that day altogether. These are bonus calories!!! Love those. It motivates me to exercise everyday, so that I can eat those extra calories. Or I will sometimes save them up (the exercise calories), for a few days if I know that I will be going out to dinner or have to have birthday cake or want to go have a few beer!!
Good luck and hope this helped!

Can you actually do that? (save up the calories?) That's sort of rhetorical, sort of a real question. I don't eat my exercise calories, but I'm at the beginning. I did a test run and noticed an immediate slow down in my weight loss...but...if I can save them up for cheat calories...well....LOL I'm still figuring out what works. I don't care how many times this question is asked, hearing different experiences is helpful.

kneeki

They're less "cheat" calories, and more "rebuild your body" calories. Those extra calories you consumed are immediately used to repair the muscle fibers and are not stored. Well, if you're eating correctly, they shouldn't be.

tinamarie0711

I was wondering the same thing ive been under just about everyday thinking i had to eat ONLY 1200 whether i exercised or not...but now i i know i must go by net calories thanks to everyones comments

cardioqueen82

You guys have been amazingly helpful! Thank you for all of your support!

Troy67

Did you program your settings for MFP when you started? If not, from your home page click settings; update diet/fitnessprofile. You enter height/weight, age, gender, activity level and how many pounds per week you want to lose.
Then the calorie allowance will reflect how much you want to lose already. For myself currently I get 1590 calories per day which is supposed to allow for a 2 pound weight loss per week. Then if I enter 1000 calories in exercise the diary automatically goes up 1000 calories and it will say "you earned 1000 extra calories from exercise today" under the totals.
Some people say to eat back all your exercise calories and you will still be on pace to lose the original 2 pounds, others say to eat back 1/2 the calories. I say just experiment a little with eating back the exercise calories until it works for you. Good luck with your efforts.