How to read/understand/eat calories correctly

Still the question is out there for me how do I know how much calories I should eat and after what period of time I do the eat back of calories to get more energy everyday after the workout? o during the day?

I believe my routine will be 1 hr of insanity or maybe little less and 1 hour of weights lifting.

I prefer a 40/20/40 diet..that is to say 40% carbs 20% protein 40% fat, with majority of fat coming from things like peanut butter. everyone is different though. Myself i am 6'3 212lbs and i eat about 3700 cals a day on a 40/20/40 split but I work 8 hour shifts on my feet with about 30 mins to eat somewhere in there. Lift 3 times a week and bicycle 2x a week.

Yes it does is the same power button to put it back to zero.

Still I see what I eat I always hit the carbs badly do you think i might be doing somethign wrong I dont feel like i am eating unhealthy simialr lunches like the one i had previously posted here is what I eat

soy milk, cereal, eggs no yolk fish, tuna, chicken veggies still those carbs hehe

You should open your diary so we can see. The "popular" setting for macros is 40/30/30 (C/F/P). I have no idea what MFP's default setting is. Why don't you eat the yolk??? That's blasphemy! You can still lose weight eating carbs. If you think it's negatively affecting your weight loss in a few weeks, then lower your carbs and see if it makes a difference. It's about finding the right balance for YOU.

Lol! gotta be nice having a new phone system!


Wierd thing i bought my scale over ebay they sent me two maybe a mistake :P


Hope by weighting the food eating healthy and this insanity work out works for me at least. Because I am doing or trying to do everything as perfect as possible on the videos but is hard since I have no condition and sometime is hard to do the exercises., but im so soreeeeeee can barely walk dont know how many calories i am burning but i logged it as dancin or aerobic here at MFP.

Liek I said before im sacre of eating to much carbs I think im going to rest a week for insanity go to the gym to lift weights adn some light 30 min cardio then go again to insanity cuz right now the sorness is too much.

You're lifting and doing Insanity in the same day? You don't want to overdo it, and you need to make sure you're consuming enough calories to fuel your workout, not to mention the rest of your day. Meal timing doesn't matter, it's whatever works best for you within your calorie goal. Do you plan on getting a heart rate monitor (with a chest strap)? If you're using MFP, I would log Insanity as "Calisthenics, vigorous effort", certainly not dancing, unless you're doing Zumba! You need to be eating back your exercise calories if you're using what MFP gave you for a calorie goal or you're really gonna feel like crap during your workouts.

I don't know how much you weigh, but someone who weighs 150lbs and is moderately active really needs a bare minimum of 2100 calories, imo. I would suggest more like 2520 and go up or down from there for calories, split it however you want, but try to get at least 150g protein and 80g fat. I sent you a pm with a link when you get time to do some reading.

EDIT: What is your goal right now, specifically?

Lol! gotta be nice having a new phone system!


Wierd thing i bought my scale over ebay they sent me two maybe a mistake :P


Hope by weighting the food eating healthy and this insanity work out works for me at least. Because I am doing or trying to do everything as perfect as possible on the videos but is hard since I have no condition and sometime is hard to do the exercises., but im so soreeeeeee can barely walk dont know how many calories i am burning but i logged it as dancin or aerobic here at MFP.

Liek I said before im sacre of eating to much carbs I think im going to rest a week for insanity go to the gym to lift weights adn some light 30 min cardio then go again to insanity cuz right now the sorness is too much.

You're lifting and doing Insanity in the same day? You don't want to overdo it, and you need to make sure you're consuming enough calories to fuel your workout, not to mention the rest of your day. Meal timing doesn't matter, it's whatever works best for you within your calorie goal. Do you plan on getting a heart rate monitor (with a chest strap)? If you're using MFP, I would log Insanity as "Calisthenics, vigorous effort", certainly not dancing, unless you're doing Zumba! You need to be eating back your exercise calories if you're using what MFP gave you for a calorie goal or you're really gonna feel like crap during your workouts.

Nope I do insanity only.. what im saying i might rest next week but go to the gym to lift and regular cardio

alright ill change insanity to that and i still dont understand how to eat calories back that is aside from lets say my current goals which is 1570 i eat more that that at the end of the day ?

Ill look the percentages for carbs, protein and calories right?

I cant find where do you set the percetanges do you know im so sorry

When you're in the "My Home" tab, click on "Goals" and that will allow you to change your settings. If your goal is 1570, and you burn 450 doing Insanity, your NET calories (goal - exercise = NET) will be 1120. You want to eat back those 450 calories, or close to it, so your net is closer to 1570 (as an example, because I agree you should probably be eating more).

Go to this site and enter your info http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html into the first two columns, then click "calculate" and it will tell you your BMR (approximately) and your calorie intake. This will include activity, though, so then you would not eat back your calories, but you would need to make sure your NET stays above your BMR, at least most of the time.

I end up changing the serving sizes in the database to grams and then put the measuring cup amount in parentheses for the foods I eat often, like ice cream. That way people who don't weigh still have the "proper" measured amount per serving. Then it gives you a "1 g" option and you can enter the exact number.

THANK YOU. I've done it too, but I've seen people change them back to cups after me changing it to grams first, cups second, wtf?!

I had some trainers and they say it has too much cholesterol and gets you fat that yes maybe each two weeks eat 1-2 yolks

I've started eating vegetarian over 3 weeks ago (not sure why, I just did, but I'll eat meat again if/when I ever want to), but before that (and even during that..) I would eat maybe 3-6 eggs PER DAY, yolks included... It hasn't made me fatter - my weight is on a downward trend. Dietary cholesterol doesn't affect the majority of people's blood cholesterol. Chances are very good that it's not something you will need to worry about. The yolk is where most of the nutrition is in an egg. If you don't eat the yolks, there's no point eating an egg - you're just wasting good food.

As for working out, I've worked every-other-day OR LESS since I started working on my health. It's not a race for me. I'm not in this for a quick finish. I am looking at the long term - I do what I believe I can manage for the rest of my life. Otherwise, it's kinda pointless, because temporary patchwork always fails; regular maintenance is key.

For percentages, I don't remember or even care to look at what I set mine to. I don't follow a set percentage for any of my macros anyhow. I struggled with protein before trying vegetarian meals, so it's not a shock that it's a struggle now. I'm not a bodybuilder, and frankly don't care to be super-optimal about this (I have mild OCD as it is, this will make it worse), taking creatine, choking down protein shakes, and so forth. All the power to those who want to go that route, though. I try to get as much protein as I can without letting my meals get boring, my fat is very rarely under 90-100 grams per day too, and carbs fall wherever they may. I do agree that MFP's defaults are a little skewed, regardless of how you eat.

For figuring out your optimal intake, what I would recommend is to use a calculator to find your TDEE (enter the numbers honestly and accurately) and then subtract maybe 10-15% for you (some people could go a bit lower, but you really don't have much to lose, no point starving yourself to lose it). Eat that number, and don't eat back exercise calories. This is the simplest method, I don't have to worry about my calorie target changing every day, I don't have to find my HRM and get it strapped on, etc. when I want to work out, and so forth. The calculator I use is this: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and I'm eating 2700 calories per day. There are other methods of course, but this is the one I have settled on.

good luck guy