Working out total calories per day?

AndreaLee16

Hi All,
I've been doing this for 6 days now and have set my max calories to 1200 per day (as per advice I found on The Biggest Loser website).
But now Ive been reading forums on here and have just completed the spreadsheet. It is telling me I should be eating 1600 calories per day. At the moment I am really comfortable only eating 1200 cals.
Should I increase my daily intake or just keep eating only 1200 cals??

SkimFlatWhite68

Hi Andrea,

It's a good question and one that I am sure we have all asked at one stage. Personally, after dieting myself up 25kg, I was looking for a better answer than dieting.

After listening to a heap of podcasts from Fat 2 Fit Radio it was starting to sink in. Eat more to lose weight. To lose fat no less! Hmmm... Something to think about.

Then reading the following post from HelloitsDan - In place of a Road Map: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 it all started to make even more sense.

Reading Nutritition 101 at Body Improvements: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/#frequency put me in a good place as well. Knowledge is power after all.

Then working through the spreadsheet from heybales: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones helped my methodical brain compute it all in a lovely spreadsheet. And in cm and kg too - perfect!

... it was really starting to sink in.

You will have to make your own choice. But for me, after gaining 25kg and an extra 20% body fat, I am going to EAT more calories, keep to a moderate level of weight bearing exercise, walk a bit every day and lose weight slowly and steadily and never eat less than my BMR, certainly keeping within my TDEE allowance but not less than 20% off that. If I do go "over" my TDEE I wont be a failure, I wont have blown it all. That is life. And the next day, I'll be back on track again. It's bound to be better than what I have been doing!

So if I were you, I would increase to 1600 calories. It will be much better for your body and lean muscle mass in the long run.

Whatever you choose, you have to be happy with your progress, so by all means do what you are comfortable with. But at least go into it being well informed. And of course, you can always try the other method.

Best wishes for a sustained fat loss!

AndreaLee16

Thanks for all that info SkimFlatWhite. I will have to sit down and try to let it all sink in lol!
I am really confues about all the BMR and TDEE etc etc etc.....I started on MFP thinking it would be simpler and I wouldnt have to count all day long. I absolutely HATE calorie counting and thought I'd just be able to punch in my meals on my phone during the day and make sure I wasnt eating too much. But this is starting to get too confusing, Im scared that I am just going to give up because its all to complicated.....