HELP ME!!!

sarahtonin015

Okay, hopefully this makes sense, and it doesn't come out as confused as I currently feel...

So based off of all my information, and my desire to lose 1 pound/week, MFP decided I should eat no more than 1200 calories/day. Now, today, I earned an additional 333 calories from working out, which puts me at 1533 calories I can eat, right?

BUT...

Does that mean that I can now consume that 1533 calories and STILL LOSE WEIGHT? Or does that mean, if I consume 1533, I'll now be eating the amount to MAINTAIN my current weight, because I definitely don't want to do that.

Also, how exactly do I calculate my BMR? MFP told me it was 1315, but BMR Calculator.net told me about 1430.25. Then, if I calculated it by my activity level, which would be moderate, it would be anywhere from 2038 to 2217. I was told that, to lose weight (like, a pound a week), you would then aim to have a 500 calorie deficit from your BMR in terms of your daily calorie intake. Is this completely wrong? If it's right, then MFP's telling me to consume 1200 calories a day (before exercising) seems dangerously low. OH, and when you have calculated your BMR AFTER HAVING MULTIPLIED IT by your activity level, are the calories you burn from your daily EXERCISES separate from this? As in, would they be additionally ADDED to the BMR you calculated? (E.g. If my BMR after multiplying it by my activity level was, say, 2200, and then I burned 333 calories from working out that day, would my calorie expenditure for that day then become 2533?)

This is all super confusing and I have no idea how many calories I'm supposed to be eating. I want to lose weight and it's frustrating feeling like you don't even know if, despite working hard at exercising and dieting, you might not be even doing it right.

iulia_maddie

The calories MFP gives you are almost always too low in my opinion. I would trust the BMR calculator. No one is really sedentary, unless you sit on your butt all day long.
So if your TDEE is 2200, you should lose about a pound a week eating 1700 calories a day. Try that for a month, see how it goes and adjust accordingly.

BajaDreamin333

You'll get tons of responses about the science and BMR and TDEE and all sorts of confusing stuff I'm sure works.

But, MFP can be really simple. Just net the 1200 and you'll lose 1 lb a week. I've got the same guidelines. Net 1200, so if I burn 500 I get 1700 total to consume. I usually "eat back" all my calories. I hit 1200 net most days and have lost 14 lbs since March 20.

There is a lot to learn but you don't have to dig that deep. Track every calorie, exercise and I swear the pounds just start coming off.

megsmom2

That means you can eat that 1533 and still lose weight. The program is set so you have a deficit even if you don't exercise. If you do exercise...you've created a double deficit, which may not be enough food to nourish an active body. This can cause your loss to slow or stop since your body will sometimes respond like you're in a famine and try to keep you alive by slowin.g your metabolic rate. Really though..you told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb a week and it set you that low? Seems odd..unless you told it you were very sedentary, which you aren't if you're exercising. You may want to change that...it will give you more to eat...and you'll still lose.

sarahtonin015

The calories MFP gives you are almost always too low in my opinion. I would trust the BMR calculator. No one is really sedentary, unless you sit on your butt all day long.
So if your TDEE is 2200, you should lose about a pound a week eating 1700 calories a day. Try that for a month, see how it goes and adjust accordingly.

Thanks for the advice; that's MUCH nicer to hear than 1200 lol One last question though, that I'm still not 100% sure of: does the TDEE include whatever calories you burn from working out, or is the TDEE just the BMR x daily activity level? If the latter, do I also need to add to the 2200 whatever calories I've burned? For example, if the TDEE was 2200 and I burned 333 calories from working out, would that make it 2533? And if so, do I subtract 500 from THAT new number, or still from the original 2200?

SO sorry if this is redundant (me not getting it lol)

alamilks

I don't know how tall you are, but. I am 5'6" 135 pounds with similar goals. I can't eat more than 1200 cals a day if I want to loose. I don't add back in the exercise cals either. People tend to overestimate their activity levels , for example I work out about 4x a week for 45 min but have a desk job. This puts me in the low activity category. Try eating 1200 cals a day for a week and see how much you loose. If its more than 1-2 lbs I'd bump up t.he cals tob1400 or so. No need to over complicate IMO. Good luck!

sarahtonin015

Thanks! For the record, I'm 5'1", 21 years old, and weigh 135 (want to drop back down to between 115-120, my "usual" weight).

cmc71

To represent the opposite opinion...I have lost 133 pounds and have never eaten a single exercise calorie back. I always figured it would make my weight loss go faster, and I never really felt like I needed the extra food. That said, it seems people have had success with both methods, though it seems like those who don't eat the calories back seem to have more/longer success. As you lose more weight, it will become harder/slower to lose if you're eating those calories back. The other issue to consider is that the calorie estimates for calories burned for a particular exercise can apparently be inaccurate.

AFitJamie

ok... breathe





if you use MFP as your calorie guide, then it sets your target with your daily deficit in it... then if you work out, you would need to eat those calories to KEEP your deficit THE SAME... so you will still lose... if you dont eat the calories back, you run the risk of not giving your body the energy it needs to run - and aside from feeling like crap, it will get the energy from someplace and one of those places is converting muscle... so working out is GREAT form retaining muscle, but don't let it generate too high a daily deficit.

don't mistake the difference between BMR and what is called TDEE...

BMR is essentially the number of calories your body burns keeping you alive... Respiration, heart beating, etc etc etc. think of it being the number of calories you would burn if you were asleep all day. Then we add to that an approximation of the number of calories we burn moving our bodies around in our daily lives to determine your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. (TDEE).. to make it simple your target, generally, should sit between your BMR and your TDEE.

MFP can be used as your guide, but it will not let anyone eat at less than 1200 calories. If you said 1 Lb a week MFP takes what it estimates your TDEE to be - IGNORING focused EXERCISE (this is different from most of the calculators you see on the 'net)... and takes 500 daily calories from it for each pound you tell it you want to lose, but will not go below 1200 for anyone.

So if you use MFP, eat at your 1200 target, but eat back exercise calories. (but be cautious of some of the estimates MFP gives - it seems to overestimate the burn for many exercises - your absolute best option is to get a Heart Rate Monitor to better estimate your calorie burn, but if that isn't an option, you may want to eat back 60-70% of the estimates MFP gives you...)

Breathe and take it easy - for most people this is a life change about finding balance and you'll find it.

Feel free to add me if I can be helpful.

AFitJamie

What some people see as being a low target for you is a function of your being petite and relatively light and female...


Women have less muscle than men, and being petite, you have less of a frame to put that on and in a relative sense, you are fairly close to your goal.

If you are like a number of more petite female friends I've had on here over the past year and quarter, you will need to be pretty focussed on your tracking. It simply isn't as easy for your to create as large a deficit, and much harder to recover from a day where you may "blow" it... Try to be fairly precise on your measurements, etc.

iulia_maddie

The calories MFP gives you are almost always too low in my opinion. I would trust the BMR calculator. No one is really sedentary, unless you sit on your butt all day long.
So if your TDEE is 2200, you should lose about a pound a week eating 1700 calories a day. Try that for a month, see how it goes and adjust accordingly.

Thanks for the advice; that's MUCH nicer to hear than 1200 lol One last question though, that I'm still not 100% sure of: does the TDEE include whatever calories you burn from working out, or is the TDEE just the BMR x daily activity level? If the latter, do I also need to add to the 2200 whatever calories I've burned? For example, if the TDEE was 2200 and I burned 333 calories from working out, would that make it 2533? And if so, do I subtract 500 from THAT new number, or still from the original 2200?

SO sorry if this is redundant (me not getting it lol)

You are basically right. I don't know what calculator you've used, but I would go here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
He does a way better job at explaining things than I would haha.
There's also a link in there where you can go to calculate your TDEE. If you pick the Little to no exercise option, you will need to eat those calories back. I actually took the liberty to calculate that for you. I entered your stats and got 1709 calories. That is what your body burns if you don't exercise, and just sit on your butt all day.

So, since you have very little weight to lose(less than 15 pounds) I would do this slowly. I would set my goal for 0.5 pounds a week. One of the reasons you want to do this is to retain as much muscle mass as possible while losing weight(i also reccomend strength training to help with that).
Your daily goal for a 0.5 pounds loss a week would be 1709-250, so 1459 plus exercise calories. If you burn 300 calories you would need to eat 1759 calories that day. Hope this is not too confusing.

Please note that these are low estimates, as I really doubt you are sedentary aside for that exercise you get. Everything counts, walking around, dancing, running after the bus etc.

sarahtonin015

You are basically right. I don't know what calculator you've used, but I would go here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
He does a way better job at explaining things than I would haha.
There's also a link in there where you can go to calculate your TDEE. If you pick the Little to no exercise option, you will need to eat those calories back. I actually took the liberty to calculate that for you. I entered your stats and got 1709 calories. That is what your body burns if you don't exercise, and just sit on your butt all day.

So, since you have very little weight to lose(less than 15 pounds) I would do this slowly. I would set my goal for 0.5 pounds a week. One of the reasons you want to do this is to retain as much muscle mass as possible while losing weight(i also reccomend strength training to help with that).
Your daily goal for a 0.5 pounds loss a week would be 1709-250, so 1459 plus exercise calories. If you burn 300 calories you would need to eat 1759 calories that day. Hope this is not too confusing.

Please note that these are low estimates, as I really doubt you are sedentary aside for that exercise you get. Everything counts, walking around, dancing, running after the bus etc.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you! I went and calculated my TDEE and it says 2208, so I almost feel I should round it down to 2100, just to play on the safe side... or maybe 2150? I got that amount because I put "moderate level of activity" (e.g. exercising 3-5 days a week) - that's the closest I could think to select that represents me, as I do pilates 5 days a week and walk an hour and 45 minutes per day, 6 days a week. Also, thanks for the advice about taking it a little slower, as that's something I hadn't considered before (potentially hindering muscle mass, which I want to gain and tone). Thanks!

sarahtonin015

Thanks to everyone who responded - as expected, there were many types of answers; some completely different from others, haha. But they were all insightful! I think I'm going to try and meet up with my old fitness professor (he's very well-known in the province of British Columbia and really knowledgeable) and talk to him in person and also ask for his two-cents. But AFitJamie, thanks for recommending the heart rate monitor so I can get a better idea of my calorie expenditure, I hadn't thought of that!