this 1200 calories confuses me

vedra_b

Ok with my goals fp says i should have 1200 calories a day right. well does that mean if i work out and burn 500 calories i can eat 1700. because that what fp does when you add your food and your exercise it it adds calories when you burn them off. I did that last week and lost 6 lbs never going over 1200 with what ever calories i burned. So what is this right am i suppose to add thos calories to my food intake?

TrishaRN_74

You are supposed to add those calories back, because 1200 calories is already a deficit, just for normal day-to-day activity. I try to stay within my original 1200, then eat maybe half of what I exercise. It's supposed to be 1200 NET calories for the day.

mcintyre3172

You should add calories if you burn them. If you go below 1200 calories your body starts to freak out and say to itself "we are going to starve" so it goes into lockdown mode trying to hold onto any fat it can. When you eat over 1200 calories your body is not freaked out and you gain and lose normally. So if you are working out hard for more than 1/2 hour a day I would try to eat another 400 calories. Also I would try to eat more protein after you work out so that your body can rebuild from working out. (dairy, chicken, eggs, meat)
At 1200 calories a day you are going to lose weight with just normal everyday life. This is why starvation or super low calorie diets don't work. You lose weight at first but after your body freaks out in a couple weeks it is very hard to lose...and when you go back off the diet you end up gaining a bunch of the weight back.

Don't try and lose it all at once.....a pound or two a week is what you are looking for. Also if you are working out you are adding muscle. So if you go a month and lose 7lbs. you probably really lost 8-9 lbs but you added some health muscle...why in turn will help you burn more fat.

vedra_b

thank you for the claification. I really am trying this time and not wanting to freak my body out in the past i just cold turkey and that didnt work well. This time i am trying to go in stages. first week i have started logging in my food and stopped the 8 cups of coffee with sugar and cream, to 1 cup and then tea no sugar or cream. this was a big hurdle but i am feeling better this week. and this week i am trying to eat breakfast and lunch where before i only ate dinner and then snacked all night. so life changes are a coming.