Trying to understand here...

mel_2812

Ok so i have panned my menu for the day.
My food calories equals to 1308 calories (so far)
I have spent around 660 calories (cardio portion only...I did musculation for 30 minutes as well but can't figure out how many calories I spent doing it). My net calories, according to MFP is 643.
Knowing that I am 5'3", 174.4 pounds, female, 26 yrs old, and that my BMR calories are around 1500 and my TDEE (is it how it's spelled?) is, I think, around 2100, should I increase my net calories to at least 1200 to lose weight???
What if I am totally not hungry at all? Do I need to eat anyways even if I am full?
I don't want to eat all those calories if not necessary...but in the same breath, I want to lose the extra weight...

Thank you for your help, I find that loosing weight is more complex than anticipated! *sigh*

i am obviously doing something wrong...i did eat healthy and clean the whole week, worked out 5 days out of 7 (sometimes moderate, sometimes more intense) and I gained 1.2 pounds! How discouraging!

psuLemon

If you know your TDEE, just cut 20% from there and that should be your total calories. So around 1750 calories a day. If you have trouble eating more, then eat smarter. Eat higher calorie foods: nuts, avocado, protein bars, high calorie protein shakes (even weight gainers) or my personal favorite, eating peanut butter out of the jar.

geekyjock76

If your predicted TDEE is 2100 and...
1)you burn a minimum of 600 calories during cardio (not including resistance training)
2)you've consumed 1308 calories from food.

...that places you at a 1400+ deficit below your predicted maintenance (800 deficit via calorie restriction + 660 deficit via exercise).

I'm assuming you'll eat more later but, as is, that is whopping deficit which is ok to maintain at your current weight for a few days but is certainly not a sustainable approach. You should gradually up your calories to about 25 to 20% below predicted TDEE and stick with that. Your deficit should involve a total between both eating less and exercise, btw. In short, if you want a deficit of 25% below TDEE ( which is a 525 calorie reduction), you can do 200 calories of exercise and reduce food intake by 325 calories - or any other formulation.

ebusinessbuilder

You dont sound confused and Yes, the human body is complex.

I pretty much figured out the same details you have, it's taken me about 2 years to sort through hype vs. facts.

From what I read on this posting, you EXACTLY have it right.
if you want to lose weight, MOVE MORE, EAT LESS.

The math you should loss about a pound of body fat for every 3600 calories deficit (so if you are under about 360 cal / day, your body should lose about 1 lb of body fat every 10 days). It's just simple math.

For me, MFP helps me with doing a great job counting the CALORIES IN and that my food intake is balances (% of carbs vs. % of protein, etc.). I loss about 10 pds and was happy.

My next 10 pounds (which i'm currently engage) was after I started using fitibt.com little activity monitor (I keep it on my 24x7).
fitbit is integrated with MFP and counts the CALORIES OUT. Days MOVE MORE, MFP tells me how much more I can eat. Days I MOVE LESS, MFP tells me how much less I should eat.

The 2nd key question I picked up in your posting, IF YOU ARE NOT HUNGRY, IT IS OKAY TO EAT LESS if your goal is to loss weight. I believe it is okay to loss weight a little faster (BUT NOT TOO FAST). Crash weight loss seems to roller-coaster back up. Slow and steady is better for our complex bodys--we just need to be patience.

I like geekyjock76's recommendation: "radually up your calories to about 25 to 20% below predicted TDEE and stick with that." ... but I dont understand the terminology (i'm a geeky biz guy and newer at the jock stuff).

Good luck and enjoy your journey,
Dirk