I need help!

cutiepie32

I am on a 1200 calorie diet. I'm not sure how many calories I have to burn a day to lose weight. I weigh 182 pounds and am 5'6. I heard that you have to burn more than you take in, but then I heard if I don't eat enough, my body will go into starvation mode and I will quit losing weight. I heard you have to eat more so your body has calories to burn. I'm so confused!!! I thought I had to exercise more because I have picked up my calorie intake 1200. I was going below 1000. I started walking 75 minutes a day, doing 20 sit ups, 20 wall push ups, 20 jumping jaks, jogging in 1 place for 2 minutes, walking in place for 2 minutes, 20 leg lifts. Also, I am on my feet alot at home doing different types of housework. Now I am told I should go back to just doing 45 minutes of walking, doing 20 sit ups in the morning and 20 at night to tone up while I am losing. I am told that I am not suppose to burn more than I take in because my body needs the nutrients and has to have food to burn the calories!! Am I making any sense? I'm so confused on what to do!

cutiepie32

I am on a 1200 calorie diet. I'm not sure how many calories I have to burn a day to lose weight. I weigh 182 pounds and am 5'6. I heard that you have to burn more than you take in, but then I heard if I don't eat enough, my body will go into starvation mode and I will quit losing weight. I heard you have to eat more so your body has calories to burn. I'm so confused!!! I thought I had to exercise more because I have picked up my calorie intake 1200. I was going below 1000. I started walking 75 minutes a day, doing 20 sit ups, 20 wall push ups, 20 jumping jaks, jogging in 1 place for 2 minutes, walking in place for 2 minutes, 20 leg lifts. Also, I am on my feet alot at home doing different types of housework. Now I am told I should go back to just doing 45 minutes of walking, doing 20 sit ups in the morning and 20 at night to tone up while I am losing. I am told that I am not suppose to burn more than I take in because my body needs the nutrients and has to have food to burn the calories!! Am I making any sense? I'm so confused on what to do!

lotusfromthemud

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

You're already at a deficit to lose weight at 1200. Exercise is good for you for other reasons.

Please read the above thread from the archives. I hope it will explain a lot.

mydogmesa2

The calories MFP tells you to consume is already adjusted to the weight loss goal you selected when you joined. If you selected to lose one lb a week, eat the calories MFP suggests and you should lose weight at that rate. Good Luck

Krystal

Ps the calories allotted to you by MFP are the calories you need, to sleep all day, so by just getting out of bed, you are burning more than you consume:happy: . HTH

sonia2

You have to put in your exercise under the exercise diary. THen on the food diary it will tell you that you have so many calories extra, just because you exercised. That's a great feeling!!

cutiepie32

Thank you! I guess I am taking in so much different information all at once! If I follow MFP I should do fine! I guess I was a little confused about all of this.

AJCM

These is a basic formula...

A pound of body fat = 3500 calories

To lose 1 pound, you must burn 3500 calories more than you consume (via exericse, or basic living - known as your BMR - basal metabolic rate - the rate at which your body burns calories merely to excist, or via activities - such as gardening, housework,etc). Also, you can achieve this 3500 calorie deficit by eating less.

This website is very basic calorie counting.

Let's say you burn 2000 calories just exisiting (your BMR) and you burn 500 each day by exercising. Therfore you burn, in total, 2500 calories. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, you would have to create a deficit of 7000 calories per week, which equals 1000 per day. Because we've said you burn 2500 calories per day (BMR + exercise) you can consume 1500 calories per day, and should stand to lose 2 lbs per week. This is how this site calculates your totals.

The math adds up any way you slice it - eat less, exericse more... just create the deficit. There is a lot of talk of starvation mode, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. There are a lot of very thin ladies in Hollywood who rarely eat, yet their bodies haven't hung on to 20 or 30 or more lbs!!! I have many friends who also illustrate this point! I think as long as you follow the diet to lose 2 lbs per week, you should be fine!

Best of luck!
:flowerforyou:

cutiepie32

Thank You! How about if I burn 1250 calories a day just breathing etc. and burn 1557 calories by walking and misc?

mydogmesa2

Yes, you burn more than that if you are walking and doing laundry and such but youve probably also already accounted for that when you chose your activity level so I wouldnt add that to your exercise list!:happy: That would just be defeating the purpose, so to speak

Krystal

catlover

It takes a while to learn the ins and outs of the program. I heard the 3500 defecit about a hundred times before it made sense. That being said, I decided to take the 3500 defecit to lose one pound, and do 3500 exercise calories to lose another one. It didn't work. I modified diet to meet the 1200 calories, exercised only 400-600 calories a day, ate most of those, and I immediately lost. Every body is different. I also made a change in what I was eating, so a combination of the two things created the results.

cutiepie32

I guess I can be so dense sometimes. I was going below 1000 calories just last week and now I am picking up my calorie intake to 1220 plus I have to add more for the exercise I burn. That is where I get confused I guess. I feel like I am not exercising enough or something because I only walk 45 minutes a day and do 20-30 situps once in the morning and once at night. Also, I am hoping that when I add in my exercise for walking I am choosing the right pace like 24 minutes a mile or faster. I am going to where my pedometer tomorrow to see exactly how long it takes me to walk a mile.