Hello, Advice please

scooterchick

Morning all, sorry for sounding really thick but Im confused, doesnt take much really. i have been allocated 1320. calories a day. So to lose weight do i have to earn that amount of calories with exercise, I am getting a little disheartned as i only earn about 250 per day and my weight isnt going down even though i am losing fat.. Your thoughts and comments will be welcomed. Many thanks for reading. x

clairebear82

Hello, welcome to MFP.

First questions, how far away from your goal are you, if you are near then it will be harder to lose weight?

But in answer to your first question, you can eat 1320 calories a day for starters and then the debates are around whether to eat your exercise calories on top of that. Some eat none, some or all, it depends on how your body reacts.

The real test is that you shouldn't let your calorie intake minus your earned exercise calories go below 1200 calories. Otherwise your body is going into starvation mode. It takes some time to get it tuned, but you'll get there.

And if you're losing fat, then you're losing weight too :-) but it could be water retention keeping the actual number the same.

Hope that helps.

x

scooterchick

thansk for that, makes sense, I am no where near goal have lost a stone before I started running but since I took it up the scales are staying the same and haev at least another 1.5 stones to go. i am being very careful not to over compensate and being thorough in measuring as I would like the scales to go down too. Thanks again.

amasot

It's possible that you are developing muscle now that you are running. Muscle weighs more than fat so you could still be losing fat but it doesn't show up on the scales. Muscle is good, because muscle helps you burn the fat faster. Weight is only one way to measure health. Have you taken your body measurments? How do your clothes fit? Keep eating in a healthy way and exercising. The reults will eventually show up in the scales too!
Best of luck. :flowerforyou:

Amalia

scooterchick

Hi, didnt take measurements unfortunately... but i know the fats going as my clothes fit better. Will just keep going, thanks

linzismith

Hi scooterchick,

Please please please make sure than you are eating 1320 cals a day every day! When MFP says you get 1320 a day, it means that based on your height, that's what your body needs just to keep your blood pumping, your lungs breathing and your limbs moving. You could lie in bed and not move all day and you would burn at least that many calories.

MFP assumes, however, that most people don't lie in bed every day. It figures that you will move around at least a little bit, so it has already accounted for that. therefore, if you eat 1320 a day YOU WILL STILL LOSE WEIGHT (1 pounds per week if that's what you said your goal was). Therefore, your body really burns1320+500 per day just lying around.

It's only if you want to eat more than 1320 that you have to exercise. Personally, I love food and I have a very hard time sticking to the 1450 I'm allotted. So I exercise constantly just so I can eat more (and I eat back every exercise calorie I earn so my body doesn't go into starvation mode and start burning muscle instead of fat). Good luck! please feel free to send me a message if you have any more questions.

scooterchick

thank you all very much for that, feel a little happier now. x

kwardklinck

The amount of calories it gives you are your deficit without exercise. You can eat your 1300 and not exercise at all and you should lose weight at the rate you chose. Then, you put in the exercise you do and can eat the additional amount. I don't understand how all these people burn so many calories with their workouts. I only earn about 250-300 extra calories on a good day.