Second week here.... Needing some advice

NayJayjay

Hey there, My name's Courtney and I recently started with My Fitness Pal. I am currently 122 kgs, and hoping to loose 20 kgs. I have a couple of questions...

-Is it beneficial to swap my dinner and breakfast around, e.g; have a larger, higher calorie breakfast and something like cereal or toast for dinner?

-How many calories can I leave at the end of the day without sabotaging my weightloss?

-Should I eat back my calories earned from exercise?

Please help me out. I am determined to do this right, so I can keep the weight off once I loose it.

Thanks,
Courtney

brittanyjeanxo

- I'm no expert, but I try not to worry about calories for breakfast so much as protein. A lot of people skip breakfast, but for me that extra boost of something helps me get up and going, and I never eat a huge breakfast. Usually either peanut butter toast or oatmeal. You could also try egg whites or something of the like. It doesn't have to be big, just something

- It really depends. I don't know your calorie deficit, but I personally try to net at least 1000, though I zig zag my calories so my body doesn't get used to one set amount.

- Yes.

Hope this helped

Sbarisch

Welcome! To answer your questions to the best of my ability.... 1. many experts do say that you should eat a bulk of your calories - including protein - at breakfast, then fewer later in the day. I don't eat that way, I actually have a small breakfast and lunch with snacks, then a larger dinner, since my husband wants "real food" for dinner. 2. You shouldn't go below 1200 calories a day, as long as you eat more than that, you should be fine. Just remember that if you don't eat enough, you'll likely get too hungry and eat something you don't really want to. 3. Myfitnesspal tracks your net calories which is total caloric allowance + any calories burned through exercise - calories already eaten for the day. So, yes, you can eat the calories you burn in exercise. It is important to have some protein and carbs following exercise to rebuild your muscles and your glycogen stores.

Hope these help and best of luck to you!

scapez

Hi there and welcome to MFP!

I 'm not a nutritionist, but I've heard that higher calorie breakfasts and lower calorie dinner has worked for some, so I would say just try it -- see how it works for you.

Assuming that your daily calorie intake has already been set to lose, I would make sure to eat AT LEAST that, and some, if not all, of the extra calories earned with exercise. Eating back cals is a 'hot topic' here, but I would suggest eating at least half of them back initially, and adjust as necessary.

Good luck!

veganbaum

It's important to eat breakfast, but as long as you're adequately fueled I don't think it matters. Although, in Michael Pollan's Food Rules he advocates "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinnre like a pauper." Something to think about.

Here are some links you should find helpful:
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

akninsas

Everyone has their own opions, but 1st and foremost, always eat your calories. Your body needs them.
For me, it doesnt matter what time I eat or if my dinner is larger calories then breakfast as long as I stay in my calorie range I will see a loss.
Make sure you exercise, it will help you lose inches faster.
I personally dont normally eat back my exercise calories unless it is one of those days when I feel like I am starving all day.
You just have to try things and see what works for you.
Good Luck and I hope you have great success!!

Manda3183

Hi Courtney,
My doctor has told me that it is better to eat a larger breakfast and/or lunch and a smaller meal for dinner. However, I think the most important thing is that you find meal sizes that feel comfortable to you and are within your daily calorie range. Also, try not to eat a large dinner too late in the evening, especially if you will be going to sleep soon after.

From what I understand from reading other entries on this site, you should try to eat back your calories from exercise. I'm not always sure how accurate these calorie burned numbers are though personally, so I would take that advice with a grain of salt. If you've done exercise that day, its probably safe to assume you should consume more calories so your body doesn't go into starvation mode... just don't overdo it.

As for how many you can leave at the end of the day... if you did not exercise that day, then I think its important to meet your minimum calorie goal. (Being over/under slightly is probably OK.) If you did, then you should still be trying to meet that calorie goal, to some extent.

I am by no means an expert... just someone who has done a lot of research and spent a lot of time trying to better my health. I hope others will weigh in though, if I am misinformed on any of this would be glad to know that!

lbsdown

Hey there!! Welcome!

I have learned that if you eat under 1200 calories a day the weight that you lose will comes back and more. your body will slow down the metabolic speed and hold on to fat. This plan is an awsome tool. Ive used for some time now and I love it! No, I wouldnt eat the calories that you burn from excercising. If you feel like your gonna crash, go ahead and eat something, dont feel guilty, cause that will just cause failure. I try not to leave more that 50 calories left to eat unless its an accident. but I also dont excercise very often anymore, so im losing it slowly now, I noticed when I was active, like pulling weeds for and hour or mowing for a couple hours or even scrubbing tile in my house for an hour a day, I lost about 4 lbs a week, yeah 4!! cool huh! I know its not healthy to lose it that fast, but I was actually eating 2000 calories a day at that time. Good Luck Girl and Im here if you need a shoulder or a shove!!! keep up the good work, it will all pay off in the end when we get to add years to our lives and happiness to our souls .

Enforcer25

Hi Courtney,

I don't think you need to swap anything, just make sure you don't eat to close to going to bed, when I'm off work, I work mids, I usually have a small snack around 8 or 8:30.

When you decide how much weight you want to lose a week you calories are determined to lose that amount based on the information you put in, so if you are under that you will lose the weight a little quicker, if you go right to the limit, you will lose whatever weight you put in to lose every week. I usually try to stay under because I'm sure some of my portions aren't measured exactly so I leave little room for error.

I pretty much know what I'm eating a work and home, if I have a good workout, I may eat some of my exercise calories back, it just depends.

Just try to eat good clean portions, I know I could eat better, but I'm improving, so I try not to get to hung up on my numbers, I figure the real set is on the scale and in the mirror ad I figure as time goes on I'll tweak my eating and workouts. Hope this helped, feel free to ask anything else and I know others have great advice too.

Good luck

Sean

UsedToBeHusky

Hi!

1. Can't say for sure. I usually end up saving my calories for dinner. But as other posters have mentioned, I try to start the day off with some protein and potassium.

2 & 3. It depends on your BMI. As long as you consume 1200 calories a day, you should get most of the nutrition your body needs. If your calorie goal is set at 1200, then you don't want to have any calories leftover. You can create larger deficits with exercise or you can choose to eat back your calories. If you are not obese, however, you may want to eat back your calories because continuous caloric deficits can slow down your metabolism. Occassionally, I will go over to keep my metabolism burning at a higher caloric rate. A previous poster referred to this as zigzagging calories.

NayJayjay

Thanks guys! Very helpful!