net calories or intake 1200?

aaaron00
aaaron00 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I've been seeing so many mixed answers about this... MPF says I am supposed to meet 1200 calories. I have been eating 1200-1500 a day and burning 500-900 thru exercise leaving me with a net intake of 530-730 per day. I have been doing this for a week and have lost 3 pounds. To consistently lose 2 pounds a week, are my NET calories supposed to reach 1200 or am I doing this correctly with INTAKE being 1200? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but it's something I've seen varied answers on!

Replies

  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    NET at minimum. Everyone loses fast right at first on a low calorie diet, but it will taper off. The first week is usually a lot of water weight, too. You need something sustainable for the long haul. I'm not going to be one of the science-y people on here, but the simple point is that if you're not feeding yourself properly, you can expect to lose muscle at a higher rate, too. And, once your stop, it will be very easy to gain it all back.
  • Wakeupwaisted
    Wakeupwaisted Posts: 25 Member
    I was wondering about this too.
  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
    Haven't you noticed that when you work out and add your exercise that MFP adds those calories back into your goals for the day? Or are you not logging your exercises?
  • MouseTmom
    MouseTmom Posts: 201 Member
    Just be careful of exercise calories - MFP seems to estimate them pretty high - I usually only eat back about 1/2 of the exercise calories just because of that!

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