Calorie confusion

vestral
vestral Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a bit confused about how many calories I should be eating. I put my figures into MFP but when it comes to the activity setting, well I'm not too sure. Some days at work, and every day at home i'm 'lightly active', about half my work days i guess I'd be 'active', but on others i'd be 'very active; The long and short of it is, I'm not sure what my daily need is, in order to set a reasonable deficit goal.

I found i was starving on MFP's reccomended settings (based on information I gave it and as above am not sure was even the right information) and i've not been sticking to my goals, i havent gained any weight, but i havent lost any either.

How do you all work out how much to eat? It sounds crazy to me for a girl to be eating 2000cal a day and LOSE weight, but perhaps thats what I need to be doing.

Replies

  • kae_blah
    kae_blah Posts: 180 Member
    How much are you setting the "to lose per week" value to? If you select 2 pounds a week you are likely to be hungry.

    I would select something suitable for most days erring on the low side (sounds like 'active' would suit you), then log your extra exercise so you can eat back those calories.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    First I figured out my BMR. I adjust it every 5-10lbs I lose. I have MFP custom goal set of 1695 (my BMR) and I try to Net that amount. On days I work out, I can end up having a total intake of over 2000 calories.

    Recently I got a fitbit zip, to help me keep an eye on my activity level. There are days that I may not workout, but I am just more active than usual and I can end up with some extra calories to eat for that day.

    Also you might want to read this thread:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/976981-welcome-to-mfp-don-t-worry-there-s-cliff-notes?hl=welcome+to+MFP
  • vestral
    vestral Posts: 5
    I figured that was the case. I've just adjusted all the settings to say 'active' and '1 pound per week' and it's spit out 2080 cal a day for me. I guess that's the goal then :) I just see so many ladies on here doing 1200 or even 1500 a day, and that's impossible for me. 1500 i can manage for about 3 days MAX then i binge eat. 1200 and I cant get through a day at work. Guess the proof is in the doing isnt it :) I just dont like that it has pounds per week as the setting, i dont really know what pounds are, Im a kg kinda gal. But if i've lost 2kg in 5 weeks, i guess it'll be working :D
  • kae_blah
    kae_blah Posts: 180 Member
    My grandmother used to talk about the "pound of butter" which was 500 grams. Even though it is closer to dividing by 2.2, I divide pounds by 2 for a kg approximation.
  • RyanneRose
    RyanneRose Posts: 128 Member
    My first maybe 3 weeks on here I had mine set to 2lbs per week and "lightly active" - I'm a stay at home mom. Activity level depends on the day and the kid, but I just chose one. It started me off with about 1300 per day (and eating back exercise caloried burned after that). I lost about half a pound a week. Not bad, but not what I wanted considering I was aiming for 2lbs.
    I just recently reduced my goal from 2lbs a week to 1.5lbs per week and it bumped my calorie goal to 1500 per day. This is, first of all, much easier for me to achieve. I don't feel so hungry. And second, after my first week of this change, I actually did lose two pounds. I guess I wasn't giving my body enough energy to work with properly :)

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