How many calories should I be eating?

donnacervelli11
donnacervelli11 Posts: 109 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I don't know if I'm doing this right. Should I be eating up to my daily calorie goal, or should I be aiming to eat a little less?

I've only been logging since Sunday, so there's not a whole lot of diary, but if I can get some feedback I'd really appreciate it.

Replies

  • felice03
    felice03 Posts: 2,644 Member
    You need to make your Diary public...
  • foleyshirley
    foleyshirley Posts: 1,043 Member
    We can't see your diary (you can make it public under settings). But you should be eating up to your calorie goal, not under. But we can help more if you open your diary.
  • donnacervelli11
    donnacervelli11 Posts: 109 Member
    Oops. Sorry. Just changed it. Thanks!
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    You should aim to meet your calorie goal every day. MFP has already included a calorie deficit for you based on your personal info, activity level and how many pounds per week you said you wanted to lose. This also means that you should eat back at least half of he calories you earn through exercise. It's old fashined diet thinking to starve yourself to lose weight. Why do that when you can eat plenty of good yummy foods and still lose?
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    Off-topic, that looks like an awfully low calorie target for you.

    On-topic, MFP calculates a deficit when presenting you with your target calories. If you follow MFP strictly, eat that target, and when you exercise, eat the calories back that you burn. This creates a stable deficit between energy in and energy out, but you still fuel your body for the work that it has done for you.

    But back off-topic, you may want to go calculate your BMR and TDEE to find a reasonable daily intake.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    You want to MEET your calorie goal.

    Given you pictures and goal, I would suggest you shoot for 0.5 pounds loss a week. Trying to lose weight too fast can make your weight loss stall.

    MFP already calculates the deficit needed for your goal, so look at it as your daily allowance of calories. You want to be as CLOSE to it as possible. A little over/under won't hurt, but being under for prolonged periods is bad.
  • donnacervelli11
    donnacervelli11 Posts: 109 Member
    Off-topic, that looks like an awfully low calorie target for you.

    On-topic, MFP calculates a deficit when presenting you with your target calories. If you follow MFP strictly, eat that target, and when you exercise, eat the calories back that you burn. This creates a stable deficit between energy in and energy out, but you still fuel your body for the work that it has done for you.

    But back off-topic, you may want to go calculate your BMR and TDEE to find a reasonable daily intake.

    Ah. I didn't realize that I had to eat back my workout calories. Maybe that's what the problem is. What's TDEE?
  • donnacervelli11
    donnacervelli11 Posts: 109 Member
    You want to MEET your calorie goal.

    Given you pictures and goal, I would suggest you shoot for 0.5 pounds loss a week. Trying to lose weight too fast can make your weight loss stall.

    MFP already calculates the deficit needed for your goal, so look at it as your daily allowance of calories. You want to be as CLOSE to it as possible. A little over/under won't hurt, but being under for prolonged periods is bad.

    Thanks, that's what I was confused about since my prevailing diet doctrine has been eat less than you burn off. That's probably why I've been stuck at the same weight for a while. Thank you!
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    Ah. I didn't realize that I had to eat back my workout calories. Maybe that's what the problem is. What's TDEE?

    MFP calculates your calorie goal WITHOUT exercise. So, when you exercise, you have more calories in that day, so you can eat more.

    TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is the number of calories you use on a normal day basis.

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