Can someone explain calories to me?

go_victoria

I was wondering if someone could explain how MFP calculates how many calories I should be eating? The system has me at the goal of 2050 calories a day. That seems really high to me. I weight 280 lbs and want to lose 1lb a week. I chose "sedentary" lifestyle because I wanted to err on the side of caution even though I work out 5 times a week.

Anyway, I thought 2050 was too high so I manually lowered my goal to 1900. Is that smart? Should I eat all 1900, and should I eat the calories I burn from exercising?

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me!

Lozze

I would stay with the recommendation that MFP gave you.

I was similar. I was 300 pounds and set my lifestyle to sedentary. I did put my weight loss to 2lbs a week so I was given 1800 calories. I generally eat my calories back. (but I'm not someone who burns 1000 calories a day. No interest in doing that personally. At a gym session I'll burn around 200-300 and I don't count strength training)

2050 or 1900 is perfect. Make sure you eat them. It seems that the bigger you are that you don't need to eat exercise calories back. I would try and at least net 1500. Use a bit of trial and error. Your body will react differently to my body, then to another poster's body.

Good luck!