Help! .. I need some advice!!

bmarie612

I'll try to make this as brief as possible.

I have been eating 1250 calories per day. However, my BMR is approx 1500-1700 depending on how active I am that day. I recently did some researched and learned about BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate: how many calories your body need each day depending on your exercise level.)

So my question is... should I be eating a min of 1500 calories a day?

Also, I was confused when I learned that I should eat the calories I burn when I workout. (Is this true?) I thought the point of working out was to burn calories...not burn them, and then consume them.

My biggest worry/fear is that once I go to maintain my weight I will gain it all back... because I have noticed when I eat something I shouldn't ex: a slice of pizza... I gain more weigt than I should from that one slice. So this is why I fear I may be doing something wrong?

Any help/advice would be very much appriciated. This is my first time staying with my diet and actually working out and putting in 100% to lose weight and I have learned I have a lot to learn and losing weight is more than just eating less and working out!!

I started dieting and working out Feb 16th 2012 and have lost 18 lbs. I have lost a total of 34 pounds since January. I am 5'9" and my current weight is 225.

MammaC66

There seems to be a lot of controversy on this subject. It sounds like you are doing great doing what you are doing. If you are losing weight and feeling good, why change it? BTW I love your picture!

mallory3411

You probably should be eating more. If you eat too little for too long your metabolism will slow as it will realize it doesn't need those extra calories.

Why eat less if you don't have to? Under "TOOLS" there is a BMR calculator. Try that and see what it is. I am 5' 5" and 195lbs and mine is just over 1600. I would bump up your calories a bit at least.

megsmom2

there's a thread here (don't remember the exact title) about eating back your exercize calories that explains it very well...please read it! MFP is set up with a deficit when you begin. You will lose weight doing nothing else but eating that number of calories. So..if you exercize, you're going further into deficit, which is NOT good. You should eat those back, it will help you lose weight and stay healthy. Don't worry about minor fluctuations....this is a long marathon, not a sprint.

bmarie612

Thank you!

Tabsta

If you eat too little your body will hang on to everything it can, especially if exercising too, your body can 'shutdown'. It doesnt know when its going to be 'fed' again, if that makes sense? When you then eat something like the Pizza slice it grabs those calories/nutrients and holds on, hence your saying your weight increases as soon as you have something like that? Try upping your calorie intake as suggested to approx 1500 cals per day. You may initially gain a little weight over the first week or so whilst your body adapts but then should settle down and your weight will remain steady but you can continue with the 1500 cals per day! Always a winner ) ..and its not necessarily the amount you eat but WHAT you eat, i know people who only eat 1500 cals a day but eat garbage, high sat fat foods or processed sugars, so weight MAY drop but body fat is still high. Whilst its generally true that weight loss is purely calories in versus calories out its not always that straight forward. I prefer the term 'weight management', i hate the word 'dieting', dieting only works whilst you are actually doing it, as soon as people stop 'dieting' the weight comes back on! who wants to diet for the rest of their life?! Manage your weight once you reach your goal, with regular exercise and the right type of foods, you can then eat more, and stop feeling hungry because your dieting (starving) your body all the time... lastly don't treat the scales as 'the bible', track your Body Fat Percentage too (BFP), most decent gyms will have a maching to do this. With increased lean muscle mass through resistance exercise your body weight may actually stay the same or increase but you will lose inches from all those areas you want to..anyway i'll shut up now it was meant to be a quick reply..lol

mgs68pony

I was confused about the eating the calories back and for the most part NOT been eating them back. I am consistently loosing 2 pounds a week, which is my goal. My theory is do what works for you.......if it is not broken.....don"t try to fix it. Good Luck!