I'm a little confused...

amberlitaaa

I usually eat just below my calorie intake, and I exercise as well. Whenever I complete my journal, it says I'm not eating enough, and I should be getting more calories. But what's the point in exercising to lose weight if I'm just going to re-eat some of the calories? I do eat a small snack before and after, but it doesn't make up for what I burn. Should I worry about this, or continue eating and exercising as I do now and not worry about lower calories?

Spirish_1

I think you already answered the question yourself. You eat below your calorie intake. If it says you need to eat 1300 calories and you're eating less than that, it can have hinder your weight loss or slow it down.

FTClown

I really do not know all the science behind all this but you should listen to what it is telling you.
I do know that if you eat to low a lot and you lower your metabolism, so when you eat a bit
heavier you end up gaining or stretching yourself out.

But remember when it comes to weight control, to gain you need like 3k more than what it tells you
to keep weight around 1500 and to lose to be around where it tells you (I trust MFP, it has shed 40lbs
off of me).

And you need to make sure that you do not under eat specially when working out, might cause more harm than good.

ADDED, I know more now than before about the feeling of hating when I eat sometimes.
I been trying to get rid of this stomach for so long it is becoming a serious frustration to me
So when I eat after I work out (no matter how much after) I always feel like I am not doing
something right. But.... It takes time.
Just listen to what MFP has to say, I trust it.

amberlitaaa

Well, it's more so that I just feel like I'm eating a lot already, and I'm always full. So eating more is weird, along with eating more after I excercise. It's just a little difficult for me. But thanks for the advice.

iWaffle

MFP already adds in a negative amount to the calories it tells you to eat so when you exercise and burn 200 calories they expect you to eat that back to stay at a healthy negative. If you eat what they recommend and are accurate on calories burned and calories eaten you will lose weight.

I think you only see this message if you eat under 1200 calories a day. That's the level they've determined to be the minimum amount someone should eat. It's probably true unless you're 5'0" or something like that.

MoveTheMountain

This question comes up a lot, and MFP isn't fantastic about telling you how much you should be eating. Here's the general process:

1. Figure out what your TDEE is (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). You can go to websites like this:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

- This (and sites like it) try to calculate, based on a few pieces of data, how many calories you are likely to use up in a single day. The thing to keep in mind is, this includes your exercise.

- Assuming your exercise rate is fairly stable across days in the week, then all you need to do is subtract between 500 (for 1 pound a week) and 1000 (for 2 pounds a week) from the TDEE figure and eat those calories. You do NOT then eat back additional calories from exercise, because that's already factored in. (You'll also have to go in and play with your MFP settings so that number gives you the number you're actually shooting for - it's pretty easy to do)

OR, you calculate your Base Metabolic Rate, or BMR. Go here:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html

- This gives you the number of calories you burn just by being alive. Subtract between 500 (for 1 pound a week) and 1000 (for 2 pounds a week) from the TDEE figure and eat those calories - but in this case, you DO eat back your calories, since they are NOT factored in.

Now this is all great in theory, but since everyone is different, you really have to use these as starting places. You might have to tweak up or down depending on how you feel, and whether or not you're making progress toward your goals.

Best of luck!

amberlitaaa

Thanks! I'm definitely going to do the math and figure it out.