I am so utterly confused and frustrated.

Oh and then there’s the thing that if I exercise, I need to eat back the calories that I burned. I just... What? How does that make any sense?

I've read the various threads in the stickies and perhaps I'm just utterly thick headed but... I just don't understand. I am really -really- confused. Perhaps someone can explain in a way that my brain can grasp it?

1 lb= 3500 calories
a deficit of 500 calories a day x 7 days = 3500 calories, which would give you a loss of 1lb per week.

If your BMR is 2500, then eating only 2000 calories per day would create that 500 calorie deficit.
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Lets say you are eating 2000 calories per day, and today you exercised and burned 300 calories. If you still only ate 2000 calories, there wouldn't necessarily be anything wrong with that, but to give your body the restorative nutrients it would need, you would want to make sure you ate food that achieved that goal.

However, by exercising, and burning 300 calories, you shifted your available caloric intake and earned yourself 300 more calories to eat back, while still maintaining your 500 calorie per day deficit. By burning your 300 calories in exercise, you created an 800 calorie deficit for the day, rather than just 500. You can eat them back, or not, but just know that there is a greater deficit when you diet AND exercise.

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What you put in your body is more important than the calorie numbers themselves. I have 1570 calories per day. I could conceivably go to McDonalds for my three meals and stay under my calorie goal for the day without exercising. I could do this every day, in fact, and I will probably still lose weight during the process, as long as I stay under my calorie goals. However, by not giving my body healthy foods, I'm losing weight, but not necessarily becoming more healthy. I don't eat all of my meals at McDonalds every day, nor do I want to. The point, though, is that I'd rather eat something higher in calories, perhaps, but healthier, than eat at McDonalds. I could eat a salad with chicken or salmon, and a plum, and some sunflower seeds for a snack and still eat fewer calories than are in a McDonalds sandwich and feel much better for it.

I hear you saying that you're having a difficult time eating all of your calories. You could consider dropping down to 2 lbs/week instead of just one, which would put you at about 1500 calories per day. Or you could look at your food diary and see if there are things that you could add that might have added health benefits. I don't know if your diary is open or not, but mine is. I struggle at 1570 because I eat a lot, and I don't always eat super healthily, though I'm moving in that direction. I would have a really difficult time with 1100 per day, my 2lbs/week allotment, which is why I just stick to 1lb per week.

If you don't want to deal with eating back exercise calories (which can vary every day), go to the first post in this thread and work out your calorie allowance:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Dan sets it up so you have a static intake every day and don't have to screw around with exercise calories.

As far as eating that many calories, I find it pretty easy - I'm set at 2300/day and it's more difficult to stay UNDER it than it is to go OVER it! As Graelwyn said, add in some more nutritionally dense foods - put a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and half an avocado on your salad. A couple tablespoons of natural peanut butter (which has protein and good essential fats) can add almost 200 calories right there. A cup of cottage cheese is loaded with protein and will easily add some calories. A handful of almonds or macadamia nuts are very nutritionally dense. There are plenty of calorically dense foods that are beneficial to your diet.

While I haven't actually looked at Dan's formulas, I'd start with the above post. This way you don't have to worry about exercise and after doing this for a short time you'll get a very good estimate on your TDEE. The above approach should be simpler once you get going.

bump so I can read later

Not sure about how much you cook etc but maybe try making some things from scratch that are calorie heavy but actually not that bad for you like Dahl ? or hummus with veg to dip ?

I completely agree with adding good, nutritionally dense, healthy fat foods. Also, if you used the computer to calculate your BMR then leave room for error. Mine calculates out to 1640 calories a day but even when exercising and eating healthy, I start gaining weight around 1500 calories a day. If I stay between 1300 and 1400 I stabilize, which is what I want since I am at my goal weight. It took a few weeks to find that right intake number for me but I have been stable now for 7 months.

CHOCOLATE!!!


Oh wait you want healthy options...my bad...:blushing:

Cocoa high percentage chocolate is good for you! Pick one that is 70% or about (Hotel Chocolat do 80/90/100%)

I've dropped nearly 35 pounds in 5 months. During the first couple of months I didn't exercise at all and lost the pounds easily. When I started exercising I did eat back my calories burned and my weight was all over the place. Which leads me to think that maybe I wasn't burning as much as I thought. I haven't exercised now for around 3 weeks and the weight loss is consistent again. I'll probably be going on to maintenance next week and MFP sets this at around 1600 calories per day for me. I realise and understand that this will also be a trial over the next few weeks to determine what is best for me in terms of calorie consumption to maintain my weight. I intend to get back on my exercise bike purely to keep my heart and lungs healthy but I won't be eating back any calories that I think I might have burned. I was also very confused when I first started out, reading all the 'you must do this, you must do that' posts. In reality what you need to do is listen to your own body and log everything that you eat/drink, and log your exercise/workouts. Find out what works for YOU and stick with it. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

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