calorie intake

embeck79

hi there, little help please fellow MFP's!

my calorie goal a day is 1,370 with a deficit of 500, currently trying to work out 4 times a week for 60 minutes, does this mean on a day that i work out i should consume 1,870 calories or is that what i should be consuming every day???

over the past two weeks i have been feeling really under the weather and no energy for exercise and generally feeling rubbish, little worried that im not eating enough? working out 4 times a week seems to work for me at the mo with two small children and part time job i find it hard to fit it in, i did try 6 times a week and was finding that i would start off really well at the beginning of the week and then by wednesday/thursday i could barely keep my eyes open

any advice or tips would be appreciated, thank you

kellypetrasek2

good question. I was wondering the same thing with the deficit thing

wonca

You'll want to consume more calories on work out days and less on your days off.

I noticed when I first started out that I was fairly consistent on missing my carb number (and total calories for that matter) and as a result was feeling kinda run down as well. Since then, I've just adjusted a bit to make up most of those carbs/calories and feel better all around.

You might want to give that a try. Good luck!

MelanieAG05

Hi there

MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1200 per day to lose 1lb per week and I exercise 4 or 5 times per week (i have kids and work full time so I appreciate the difficulty of fitting it in!). I haven't yet lost any more weight since joining up on here. There is quite a debate on MFP forum as to whether you should be "eating" the calories you burn or not and having net calories under your calorie goal and therefore not eating enough to fuel your body and going into "starvation mode". This week I am aiming to eat 1400 calories per day and not eating back my exercise calories to see if that works. I think it is just trial and error as everyone is different!

AdrienneinTO

You should be eating around 1870 calories (+/- 100, doesn't have to be exact) on workout days. If you have been eating 1370, but working out for an hour (probably burning 500-ish calories), it's no wonder you've been tired. That's a big deficit. On non-workout days, you could eat fewer calories (1400-ish) unless you are hungry and feeling tired. Or you could eat closer to 1870 to re-charge. If you eat more, you're doing calorie zig-zagging, which a lot of people say keeps them from plateauing.

jovz10

You should be eating around 1870 calories (+/- 100, doesn't have to be exact) on workout days. If you have been eating 1370, but working out for an hour (probably burning 500-ish calories), it's no wonder you've been tired. That's a big deficit. On non-workout days, you could eat fewer calories (1400-ish) unless you are hungry and feeling tired. Or you could eat closer to 1870 to re-charge. If you eat more, you're doing calorie zig-zagging, which a lot of people say keeps them from plateauing.

that's what i'm doing now. i've been only a MFP member for 2 months. my first month i was following what MFP suggested of 1340cal for a pound lose a week til i hit my plateau. some suggested that up my calorie intake to maintain weight (1780cal) for a week. then, zigzag after that. 1780net when i workout hard and less when i don't but as long as my weekly avg. is around 1400net, started losing about a pound a week.