So confused about calorie intake??

sarahertzberger

I'm so confused about my calorie intake everyday for the most part I stay under my calorie goal, but yesterday I was under by over 1,000 (I did 2 workouts) my husband told me he thinks I'm eating too few calories because if I workout I need to eat more, but I'm so scared that if I eat more, I will only gain weight. I also saw someone else post some other way to calculate how many calories you need which just confused me, can anyone help me out with this, take a look at my food diary and give me some tips, and also if anyone knows the other way to figure out how to calculate the calories you need if you could explain it, that would be great. I started out at 185 about 2 weeks ago and started working out and controlling my portions, and now I'm between 180 and 181 and I"m 5' 2"

bcattoes

I'm so confused about my calorie intake everyday for the most part I stay under my calorie goal, but yesterday I was under by over 1,000 (I did 2 workouts) my husband told me he thinks I'm eating too few calories because if I workout I need to eat more, but I'm so scared that if I eat more, I will only gain weight. I also saw someone else post some other way to calculate how many calories you need which just confused me, can anyone help me out with this, take a look at my food diary and give me some tips, and also if anyone knows the other way to figure out how to calculate the calories you need if you could explain it, that would be great. I started out at 185 about 2 weeks ago and started working out and controlling my portions, and now I'm between 180 and 181 and I"m 5' 2"

The deficit is already built into the calories MFP allows you. This is based on the activity level you entered when you set up your account. When you exercise you go beyond that activity level, so you need to eat more to fuel that exercise. You don't have to eat all of your "exercise calories" back, but you should eat at least half of them. Eating too little can cause fatigue and fatigue messes with hormones that regulate hunger. It can also cause you to lose more muscle along with fat.

The alternate method you refer to is probably eating your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) minus 20%. There are a few internet sites that will caculate TDEE. Here is one: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Include your exercise when you figure it, then subtract 20% from the amount of calories it gives you. Remember these will be average based numbers so you may need to tweak it a bit as you go, but it should give you a good starting point, if you want to try this method.

jkaminsky

Sara

Look into eating non-processed foods. What I did is I went to the health club and had one of the trainers set my zones on my heart rate monitor so when I work out at the club I bring myself to a zone where I'm burning fat which my heart rate gets to 145 then I bring my heart rate down to 115 and then back up for an hour doing this. It increases your metabolism and if do this you will see that the weight will start coming off. Also if your stomach is growling at night drink more water what is happening I think to me is that my body is burning calories at night when I'm sleeping. I bought this body-media strap and I love it I'm watching everthing I'm eating and all the calories I'm burning. Hope this helps.

Joel

hpsnickers1

Primal Blueprint and Mark's Daily Apple!!

krisiepoo

enter your information here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

they take into acct your workouts so if you're trying to lose weight, eat 20% less than your TDEE and don't eat back your exercise cals.

Easy peasy

Just FYI, you'll probably be shocked at just how many cals you can eat and still lose weight. I'm eating over 2000 cals and losing consistently

Wendysworld13

I just recently helped a friend with this and am including the message I sent her. It is below:

... I just wanted to make sure you were totally hearing this part. You are not eating enough. Would you try to drive your car a thousand miles on a quarter tank of gas? Of course not. Your mind gets the message from your body that it does not have enough fuel - cause you are burning it off by exercising - so now it is going to hold on to every single calorie it can - cause what if you just stop putting fuel in the tank altogether? Our bodies are way smarter than our thinking brain. You breathe because your body makes you breathe, not because you consciously decide to pull air in and push it out. Do you understand that these automatic systems are doing their jobs.

Time, patience, hard work, and fuel!

Good luck!

And a second post:

Besides just the calories there is way more. We all have genetics working for and against us, lifestyles, health issues, exercise, etc, you get the picture. To me I use this site to get ideas, work on where I have come from and where I want to be. I get distressed by all the know it alls who don't know me and decided that I really need to work on what works for me. I hope you let the bad feelings go and enjoy the site and all the GOOD people on it. Use it for motivation, logging, and to find out factual stuff that can help you. In the long run, it is about being healthy and loving yourself for what and where you are.

erincampbell9

This information should be very helpful.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

lilteepot

but I'm so scared that if I eat more, I will only gain weight.

It takes 3500 calories OVER your daily expenditure to gain a pound. (Outside normal fluctuations, of course.) Wrap your brain around that and leave your fear in the dust. Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to eat 3500 calories ABOVE your TDEE?!

This concept was the game changer for me. That fear will un-do you. It's the fear that leads to feelings of self-defeat when you've had a bad day and ultimately makes you throw in the towel altogether. At least it did for me. You're going to have to face it eventually, and it's best to be armed with knowledge when that point comes. Get rid of the fear. Learn about BMR and TDEE. (This is a good starting point at least: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12).

emmgetsfit

I was in the same boat, but these three original posts helped everything click. If you have any questions I'm happy to share what I know.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833500-what-do-i-do-common-sense-cliff-notes

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/865024-1200-and-why-it-won-t-work

If you act now, I'll even throw in my personal blog for no additional cost!!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/emmgetsfit/view/tdee-20-vs-mfp-478613

sarahertzberger

Thank you all for the tips, now time I put them to practice and get this weight off!!! :-)