Calories Eaten

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kadarina
kadarina Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
I apoloize if this has been asked before but to lose weight does everyone eat the amount of calories calculated by their tracker profile? For example; I am currently doing the 90 Jillian Michaels Body Revolution and I have to stay within 1,200 calories but MFP thinks I should be around 1,300 calories a day. Is it okay to have a deficit each day? And do I look at 1,200 calories at the end of the day after or before a workout? Thank you!

Replies

  • elleloch
    elleloch Posts: 739 Member
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    Follow MFP's 1300 for a while.

    If you burn like 300 calories or something doing Jillian's DVDs, then eat 1600 calories - because you will meet that deficit.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    The way MFP works is that it finds your TDEE and then takes away however many calories needed per day to reach your weight loss goals.

    If you exercise, you spend more calories, which means you can eat more.

    Example:

    You want to lose 1 pound a week, that is 3500 calories. So 3500/7 days = 500 calories a day deficit.

    Now say your TDEE is 1700, so 1700 - 500 = 1200.

    But if you exercise and burn 300 calories, your current day's TDEE is 1700 + 300 = 2000. So, 2000 - 500 = 1500, which also happens to be 1200 + 300 = 1500.

    Go ahead and eat a bit more on days you exercise.
  • MichelleLaree13
    MichelleLaree13 Posts: 865 Member
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    Creating a calorie deficit will result in weight loss however you do it.
  • kadarina
    kadarina Posts: 4
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    Thank you @DanaDark for the math equations. I admit it took me a bit but in my defense I am a reading teacher. :-) Let me make sure I understand- I exercise 6 days out of the week (per Jillian's schedule) so on those days I may eat 1500 calories leaving me back to 1200 within Jillian's range?
    I apologize but before I had my son (and sadly he wasn't an 80 pound baby) I never had to count calories I simply exercised everyday and I was very happy with my size. I lost 60 of those 80 baby pounds simply breastfeeding and eating a lot less! Now that I have started exercising again the scale hasn't moved but the prebaby clothes are not nearly as snug. I eat an 80% organic diet and I don't eat packaged foods so I know that the quality of food I am putting in my body is okay and I exercise daily but I am frustrated at the scale not moving so the only missing factor in the equation was I might not be eating enough.

    thoughts? thank to those who replied already :-)
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
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    1200 calories is before your workout. It's up to you if you want to "eat back" your workout calories or not. I think most do, some don't, and some (like me) eat back some of them, but not all. Just don't consistently eat under 1200.

    Do you have a Fit Bit or a heart rate monitor? They are great tools to help you know how many calories you are burning during exercise. Don't trust what a DVD or machine tells you. Everyone burns calories at a different rate, it all depends on your age, current weight, body mass, gender, how hard you are working, your own personal fitness level and who knows how many other factors. I love my HRM, I don't know what I would do without it! ALSO, if you plan on logging your exercise in MFP, set your activity level to "sedentary". If you have it set for anything else, you will essentially be logging your exercise twice.

    I don't know much about the Body Revolution, but I would go on what MFP says. This site, at least, factors in your age, weight, goals, etc. Does BR just say 1200 for everyone? Because a lot of weight loss plans, and people, seem to think that's the magic number to lose weight for everyone on earth. That's bad advise at best and could be hugely unhealthy at worst, depending on the person. But, honestly, 100 calories one way or the other won't make much difference. Most likely you will be off that much or more on most days. It's hard to hit your calories right on the nose(!) and, truly, that's ok.
  • Tamisha15
    Tamisha15 Posts: 83 Member
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    Also, keep in mind all the calories in the system may not be correct. "The FDA allows manufacturers and packagers a surprisingly wide margin of error–the information can be off by 20% in either direction and still be in compliance. For example, if the nutrition facts label says that a food contains 300 calories, it may actually contain anywhere from 240 to 360 calories."

    So even if you log 1200 calories you could be eating 240 less or 240 more calories extra a day. So you may want to toggle between the two and listen to your body and not your mind when it comes to weight loss :happy:
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
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    Ooh, lots of replies while I was writing mine.

    When did you start exercising? It's really common for weight loss to stall the first week or two of a new exercise routine, your weight can even increase a little. It's actually mostly water weight. As I understand it, exercising causes tiny tears in your muscles and your muscles will retain fluids for a bit while they heal. So, it's very possible that you are still losing fat, it's just not showing on the scale. How your clothes are fitting is a good indicator. Keep going!

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