Will someone please explain it to me.

hazelovesfood

Right so Im very interested in all this calories in v out stuff. What I want to know is if someones daily calourie needs are 2000 per day just to be alive and you cut that intake to 1200 say, thats 800 less per day.
So your already 800 less before you even do any activiety per day then if you could work out all the cals you burn, cleaning the house, mowing the grass etc that would be even more down, say you used 1200 to do those daily activities.
Then what about if you trained for a hour and burned 500 or more calouries, thats -500 or more.so thats isnt that a 500 calourie a day under eat??????????
What would happen if you did this, would you lose lots of weight, would you gain weight, I just wanna get my head around what im eating and how much I should be eating to lose weight, help so confusing????????????????

Nelski

If your BMR is 2000 then do NOT eat 1200. You will lose weight at 1st but that will backfire eventually.
There is some wonderful information in this group on BMR and TDEE
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

mkgates121

From what I have learned starting this program is everyone is different. Your calorie intake is based on your height and current weight and then how much you want to loose. When you burn calories you still want to eat back those calories to an extent. You never want to eat less then 1200. As long as you have a 1200 calorie diet and continue eating healthy and exercising you should still loose the weight. You just want to make sure you eat at least 1200 cals daily other wise your body can go in starvation mode and thats when you can gain weight. Hope that helps a bit.

hazelovesfood

Nelski, thanks for that link, but what it makes me wonder is, what the hell was i eating before, or how many cals as i slowely put weight on over 9 months roughly a pound per month.

mayerel

Nelski, thanks for that link, but what it makes me wonder is, what the hell was i eating before, or how many cals as i slowely put weight on over 9 months roughly a pound per month.

A lot more than you thought!! I realize how much I was snacking on little stuff...and how easy it was to cut out, when I started tracking! I seriously never realized how many calories certain things had in it!

hazelovesfood

mmm could be the snacking, more likely the eating out. I love nachos will all the gunk on them, love bbq fajitas too but havent had one for months. When havng a meal out i would often have dessert which i reckon i could have been eating atb least 1500 in one meal, then there was breakfast on top and my actual dinner at night, which on some days might have been chinease takeaway ?????????????? god knows how many cals that had, plus im might have had a small choccy bar too. so I reckon I could have been eating 3000 per day easy.

laceylou0702

I started at 1200ish calories at first I lost weight but was tired & crabby. I'm not eating about 1600 calories per day depeding on exercise and I'm still losing weight. Check out the Group called "Eat more to lose weight" (I believe) that'll help you alot.

tjphelps73

When I first started MFP it set me up at 1900 Calories and then as I dropped weight, the calories declined. I read a book by Dr. Joe (got it from the library). It explained how you are to eat so many carbs, fats, & proteins in a day to help stimulate your metabolism and lose weight so it will stay off. I am 5'5 female - the book stated 1200 calories and of those calories I am to have so many carbs, proteins, and fats. I set my MFP goal off of this and for the last seven months have slowly lost. I have another 100 pounds to go, but I will get there. I can tell you - the tired, crabby, and moodiness may have been from the carb withdrawal. It stinks to go through. I eat 100-121 carbs a day; before MFP, I ate 200+ without realizing it. It has been a learning process but a wonderful lifestyle change!

hazelovesfood

I used to eat alot of carbs too, but never really thought about it, most of my foods were carbs with only small amounst fo protein. I havent eaten pasta now for weeks and havent had beans for months.Im trying to eat more this week since joining mfp but im off on holiday on sunday so lets hope i dont gain there.

melissa_leah

your goal myfitnesspal gives you should be your net at the end of the day (food eaten-exercise calories=net)

susannamarie

Nelski, thanks for that link, but what it makes me wonder is, what the hell was i eating before, or how many cals as i slowely put weight on over 9 months roughly a pound per month.

Putting on a pound per month only takes about 120 extra calories per day.

120 calories/day * 30 days/month (roughly) = 3600 calories/month.

teinepalagi

Everybody is different. But I am 5'2", 136 pounds and I eat around 1800-2000 calories/day and I still lose weight. I don't have a lot to lose anymore so it's not quite as quickly....but it's still happening. I do workout very consistently......

So, it's a whole lot easier to be on this train while eating a little more. Try it, see if it works for you...if not, cut it down until you're seeing a nice loss each week.

hazelovesfood

120 cals per day, thats like one 2 finger kit kat or a couple of small cookies.thats not alot is it, just shows you.

42kgirl

I eat the calories for the weight I want to be and track my exercise separately. Really the only exercise I track is running to keep up with my mileage.