Changed my settings - 400 more cals a day really????

Connaz987

I guess I filled it out incorrectly the first time I started using it. I thought 1250 cal a day would be sufficient for me to lose weight. I'm 5'7" 188 and I'm 35 yrs old. I work out at my lunch time Mon-Fri. 40-45 min cardio M,W,F and weights Tues and Thurs. I'm trying VERY (not perfect but trying:) hard to lower carb intake after 3 pm. My body feels good with working out but the scale isn't budging. Now that I see MFP says I should be having 1650 cals was a starving myself and didn't realize it?

Has anyone else ever come across this? Did it work for you to follow your cals on MFP to the letter? HELP!

jzaz903

what did you change? i can't think of anything that would change it that much other than activity level or lb per week goal

SelkieDiver

When you were on 1250 were you eating back all or a portion of your exercise calories? I'm set to lose 1lb/week, sedentary daily activities (desk job) and I log my exercises separately. My base is 1240, but I try to eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn with exercise (I'm training for a sprint triathlon so there are LOTS of exercise calories some days!).

HoLLyZ82

HOW LONG WERE YOU EATING AT 1250 CALS? ---oops sorry about the CAPS.

Connaz987

Ok I changed my settings to sedentary and 1 pnd a week I think the "lightly active" was messing with me. I'm now at 1450 which seems much more reasonable. I just couldn't believe I was missing out on 400 cals. Hopefully this will even me out. I have a desk job as well but I thought the working out 5 days a week should be factored in but that would be on top of normal day activities.

Thank you so much for the feedback! Please come find me Connaz987 I would be great to have you all as my support group. All of you are doing so well, congrats!!!

diannethegeek

Ok I changed my settings to sedentary and 1 pnd a week I think the "lightly active" was messing with me. I'm now at 1450 which seems much more reasonable. I just couldn't believe I was missing out on 400 cals. Hopefully this will even me out. I have a desk job as well but I thought the working out 5 days a week should be factored in but that would be on top of normal day activities.

Thank you so much for the feedback! Please come find me Connaz987 I would be great to have you all as my support group. All of you are doing so well, congrats!!!

If you set your activity level to include your normal day without your workouts and then log your workouts, MFP will give you the extra calories after you've worked out. So yes, the workouts will be factored into your calorie allotment, just not until you actually do them.

jzaz903

Ok I changed my settings to sedentary and 1 pnd a week I think the "lightly active" was messing with me. I'm now at 1450 which seems much more reasonable. I just couldn't believe I was missing out on 400 cals. Hopefully this will even me out. I have a desk job as well but I thought the working out 5 days a week should be factored in but that would be on top of normal day activities.

Thank you so much for the feedback! Please come find me Connaz987 I would be great to have you all as my support group. All of you are doing so well, congrats!!!

If you set your activity level to include your normal day without your workouts and then log your workouts, MFP will give you the extra calories after you've worked out. So yes, the workouts will be factored into your calorie allotment, just not until you actually do them.

this!
if you think your day-to-day activity(not workouts) are "lightly active" then you do need those extra calories. with a desk job though, typically "sedentary" is the right choice. you should log your workouts as you do them and eat a good portion of your exercise calories- i know MFP (and cardio machines at the gym) are known for overestimating burns, so i'd try to make sure to NET 1200 calories a day.

also, if you want to add people as friends, click on their username/picture, then the "add friend" button. i'd be happy to add you, motivate you, and help you out!