Calorie Intake, what determines your goal??

allison0820

So, I've been on MFP for a while, I've lost almost 43lbs.... I've been reading alot about eat more to weigh less, but never really made any changes or anything......

Today under the suggestion of some MFP friends I tried a site to see what I should be eating calorie wise... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/... According to this calculator I am not eating enough calories during the day... MFP using their guided goals has me set at 1520 ish calories a day.. I do sit at a desk all day so I have my activity level as sendentary although I do workout most days... usually 3 - 5 times a week (sometimes more), at least 30 mins at a time.... Right now I am on Week 7 of C25K and on my non running days I do a beginner strenth training routine and the elliptical to burn some caloires and to tone up...

My weight loss has slowed to a crawl well probably a back and fourth crawl is more like it.... According to the site I listed above my BMR is 1661 which is lower than what MFP has me taking in daily.... Can anyone shed some eductated light on this??? As an expierement I have upped my calories on MFP to my BMR just to see (starting today).....

Oh and feel free to add me.. I'm here everyday!!!

AmyRhubarb

This thread and the links in it helped me set my goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Ties in with the Eat More group, but I like the tools in this topic better for figuring out all my numbers. Check it out.

Lyssa62

I eat when I'm hungry and try to make wise choices most of the time. I'm not paying much attention to the back and forth debate over eating or not eating exercise calories. Whatever I'm doing is working..why reinvent the wheel.

allison0820

This thread and the links in it helped me set my goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

This is very helpful link!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

jacksonpt

TDEE - some percentage. The percentage should be based on how much weight you have to lose. People with more weight to lose can be more aggressive, people with less to lose should go at it more slowly.

Are you eating back your exercise cals with MFP?

allison0820

TDEE - some percentage. The percentage should be based on how much weight you have to lose. People with more weight to lose can be more aggressive, people with less to lose should go at it more slowly.

Are you eating back your exercise cals with MFP?

I eat back most of them usually.... So how can we gauge what percentage we should use.. say if one wants to lose 30 more lbs??

michellekicks

TDEE - some percentage. The percentage should be based on how much weight you have to lose. People with more weight to lose can be more aggressive, people with less to lose should go at it more slowly.

Are you eating back your exercise cals with MFP?

I eat back most of them usually.... So how can we gauge what percentage we should use.. say if one wants to lose 30 more lbs??

Choose 15-20% at most.

jacksonpt

So MFP has you on 1500ish cals per day and you eat back your exercise calories... that means you are eating, on average, what... 1650? Is that more in line with what the other site said you should be eating?

30lbs is relatively little. I'd go with 1lb per week personally, maybe a little less.

So, 1lb per week is ~3500 cals, which is 500 cals per day.

Figure out your TDEE, then subtract 400-500 cals for your daily target. Using this approach, you wouldn't need to log your exercises or eat back your exercise cals.

It's just 1 approach... there are other ways that work too.

raeleek

A friend of mine who has lost A LOT of weigh gave me this formula and my weight has been coming off at a nice rate ever since.

To each his own but this has worked nicely for me!

(Your weight x 10) + ( (Lbs x 10) x .2)

You get this total and then ADD your exercise calories

Once you come up with this number SUBTRACT your deficit.

So it looks like this ~

(150 x 10) + (1500 x .2)
1500 + 300
1800

1800 + 600 cals burned

2400 - 500 cal deficit

1900 cals a day!

Like I said this has worked great for me and I know there are a lot of ways people go about finding their daily calorie total.

allison0820

So MFP has you on 1500ish cals per day and you eat back your exercise calories... that means you are eating, on average, what... 1650? Is that more in line with what the other site said you should be eating?

30lbs is relatively little. I'd go with 1lb per week personally, maybe a little less.

So, 1lb per week is ~3500 cals, which is 500 cals per day.

Figure out your TDEE, then subtract 400-500 cals for your daily target. Using this approach, you wouldn't need to log your exercises or eat back your exercise cals.

It's just 1 approach... there are other ways that work too.

Awesome you answered my next question which was if I do change it do I still eat back exercise calories... but I just looked back at my week this week and my average calorie intake was 1588 some days my net was as low as 1100.. but I had one bad day that I think averaged it out.... which makes sense I guess I lost almost 1lb this week.

ggcat

This thread and the links in it helped me set my goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Ties in with the Eat More group, but I like the tools in this topic better for figuring out all my numbers. Check it out.

Same here! Helped me out a lot!

zaph0d

TDEE - deficit
deficit should be roughly 20%

nturner612

i thought i knew all there was to know about losing weight...that is until i turned 28 have two kids (my most recent turned 2 so i cant blame the baby weight on him anymore) and now im like "wth why wont this weight just come off!" not so easy now, and then just when i get going my scale breaks! arghh!!!! so i dont know what to tell you just wanted to share this with the world! getting old sux!!!

californiagirl2012

So, I've been on MFP for a while, I've lost almost 43lbs.... I've been reading alot about eat more to weigh less, but never really made any changes or anything......

Today under the suggestion of some MFP friends I tried a site to see what I should be eating calorie wise... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/... According to this calculator I am not eating enough calories during the day... MFP using their guided goals has me set at 1520 ish calories a day.. I do sit at a desk all day so I have my activity level as sendentary although I do workout most days... usually 3 - 5 times a week (sometimes more), at least 30 mins at a time.... Right now I am on Week 7 of C25K and on my non running days I do a beginner strenth training routine and the elliptical to burn some caloires and to tone up...

My weight loss has slowed to a crawl well probably a back and fourth crawl is more like it.... According to the site I listed above my BMR is 1661 which is lower than what MFP has me taking in daily.... Can anyone shed some eductated light on this??? As an expierement I have upped my calories on MFP to my BMR just to see (starting today).....

Oh and feel free to add me.. I'm here everyday!!!

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

You might have to experiment with calories by notching up or down by 100 and see what happens. All the tools are estimates and your body is the end game, not what any person or tool tells you. Eating less worked for me but I think that is because I am super tiny. My RMR is only 1380 (per DXA scan). I think smaller people like me get frustrated with the "eat more to lose" mantra, but it probably works okay for taller people. It really depends on your RMR. RMR is mainly driven by height.

I found the following quote helpful:

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index manual)

kikicooks

TDEE - some percentage. The percentage should be based on how much weight you have to lose. People with more weight to lose can be more aggressive, people with less to lose should go at it more slowly.

Are you eating back your exercise cals with MFP?

I eat back most of them usually.... So how can we gauge what percentage we should use.. say if one wants to lose 30 more lbs??

I use my TDEE for my calorie estimate instead of MFP's numbers. I try to have a deficit of about 15%, 15-20% is recommended for healthy fat loss.

1jeannette9

Great link, I was just reading it.

redredy9

A friend of mine who has lost A LOT of weigh gave me this formula and my weight has been coming off at a nice rate ever since.

To each his own but this has worked nicely for me!

(Your weight x 10) + ( (Lbs x 10) x .2)

You get this total and then ADD your exercise calories

Once you come up with this number SUBTRACT your deficit.

So it looks like this ~

(150 x 10) + (1500 x .2)
1500 + 300
1800

1800 + 600 cals burned

2400 - 500 cal deficit

1900 cals a day!

Like I said this has worked great for me and I know there are a lot of ways people go about finding their daily calorie total.

When I used this calculation I got the number of calories MFP suggested for me - before adding back any work out calories.

I didn't like starting with a low base and eating back my calories. On rest days I was starving and on heavy workout days I was netting under 800. So I switched to TDEE - 25% and have the same calorie goal everyday. My exercise calories are spread out over the week.

The weight loss was slow going for almost 3 months then just this week the weightloss suddenly all caught up to me :-D!

The sudden "whoosh" Californiagir was taking about!

I might go to TDEE - 20% now that I am about 10 pounds from my goal weight.

shade0343

MFP assumes you are doing 200-400 calories of 'normal daily activity'. Getting up and walking around the house getting ready for work, lunch, dinner and probably a little cleaning etc. I just do an extra half hour to hour of cleaning, hanging up clothes or walking the dog and that seems to be doing the trick for me.