personal calories

runningman1203
runningman1203 Posts: 19
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
Hi everyone, its been a while since i counted calories, its usually points. Now the website has worked out my calories, but im just wondering are people happy with their calorie allowance, love the website but i just want to check im on the right path.

Replies

  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    i do find it strange--my wife and i have both been given the same 1200 calories allowance--she is 50 odd kilos and i am 73kgs--i am about 6 inches taller than her and obviously male lol--either i am starving or she is overeating because we both struggle to reach this 1200 calories. We dont live in a western culture but i originate in the uk where intakes are much higher due to the proliferation of high protein meals.
  • OnionCookie
    OnionCookie Posts: 272 Member
    I'm a bit iffy with it. I feel like now that I'm eating healthier its so difficult to get to the calories they prescribe. If you eat healthy, to get your cals you have to eat a bit more of the healthy stuff. For someone who ate little but mostly high calorie junk, its a hard transition.
  • badrianne
    badrianne Posts: 101
    My daily caloric goal is 1270. I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I usually will have a 100-200 midmorning and afternoon snack/mini meal. If I am below my calories for that day I may have and evening snack, which is usually something sweet.

    If I have learned anything from this site, it is to follow the calorie goal prescribed for you and if you evercise take advantage of that and eat the calories that you earned. Your body needs those calories to keep your metabolism reved up and you losing weight.

    Despite the fact that someone we know may be smalller or larger and have the same calories to eat daily...our current weight, ages, and activity levels and weight loss goals will factor into our daily caloric allowance. You will see that as thinggs change, so will your allowance.

    Nonetheless, good luck with your weight loss!!!
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    i changed lifestyles after i gained my excess weight--i moved abroad from the uk. i have eaten healthily since i moved here but did no exercise. People where i live just eat less protein and carbs than the uk and consequently are much lighter-my wife's target is about 50kgs and she is 5ft 3 --this 1200 minimal is far more than my wife has ever eaten but until we joined the gyö she had never taken any regular exercise in her life--gyms are rare and very expensive --it costs me 2500 dollars a year for us
  • chaudhry
    chaudhry Posts: 4 Member
    Hi. Be careful with the database provided, its actually misleading. Do your research or add the foods which you eat often, off their labels.

    By the way calorie counting is a great habit for losing or gaining weight.
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    i do wish there was more weights on the items--1 slice of bread for me is about 4inches in diameter and how thick are they? what is thin to some people is thick to another! --bread is one of my major concerns and think the portions should be in grams--a loaf here doesnt have any packet or standard sizing--its baked in the shop where you buy it
  • chaudhry
    chaudhry Posts: 4 Member
    I discovered that the "guided" percentage system to determine your goal proteins, carbs and fats is way way off the target. Thats more designed percentages for the person who wishes to maintain his/her weight but for fat loss (With out sacrificing the muscle mass) it has to be tweaked a little.

    I learnt from a great resource and had used it for the past one month on my self that one's protein portion should be equal to atleast one's weight. Example I weigh 248 pounds, i shoudl eat 248 grams of protein.

    So my first tweak is always to customize my diet to have the right percentage from proteins, then no mater what happens i restrict my fats to between 20-25% max (Each fat gram is equal to 9 calories, where as each carb / protein gram is equal to 4 calories). Then i leave the reast for carbs.

    Most important try to take the higher carbs or more sugary carbs pre and post work out only. (Both your pre and post workout meal should have atleast 1:1 ratio of carb and proteins, and do not consume fats pre or post workout)

    Best time to eat fats is along with the more fibre carbs.

    Another thing that benefits me is to restrict carbs totally for my last two meals of the day. and rather take majority carbs in the morning.

    This is just my research and experimentation on my self, which helped me succesfully lose 6 kg's (~13 pounds ) of FAT, while retaining my muscle and water percentages only in a month. (Started 3rd May 2010).
  • Mirlyn
    Mirlyn Posts: 256
    I'm happy with the calories allotted to me. I went from eating bad bad bad food to eating pretty healthy choices so sometimes I find it hard to hit my calories while other days I find it easy to go over. Exercising prevents me from going over and prevents me from ever being hungry. Welcome to MFP!
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    i know i should be eating back my exercise but i feel loathed to because i actualy wanted to decrease what i eat so when the exercise deminishes i want to be at a substainable calorie intake that i am accustomed to--i am always short even on days with no exercise but still losing at 2lbs a week--when i started this diet i had my bmr checked as normal and it is soon to go get retested to see what i have done to myself!
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
    I'm surprised so many people are not having a good result with MFP's calorie goals. Personally, I have found the calorie goals to be extremely effective, however, I was initially given a daily calorie goal of 1500, and I exercise pretty regularly, which meant I could eat upwards up 1800 cals most days. However on my off days I had no problem eating 1500 calories, in fact now that I am on maintenance I am having trouble eating enough calories (1800 per day, plus my exercise calories) and as a result have lost another 3 pounds unintentially. Not that I'm complaining! I do think that if I had a goal of 1200 calories I would have a hard time sticking with it - its amazing what a difference 300 calories makes!
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
    i do wish there was more weights on the items--1 slice of bread for me is about 4inches in diameter and how thick are they? what is thin to some people is thick to another! --bread is one of my major concerns and think the portions should be in grams--a loaf here doesnt have any packet or standard sizing--its baked in the shop where you buy it

    I have an old book called "Food Counts" and according to the information in it, 2 oz of fresh baked bread has approximately 150 calories. I hope that helps :)
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    i get differing totals for an once--some think it is 25grammes and i work it out as nearly 30g---- from some of the maths on food products here---imperial is about as relevant as furlongs to the real world

    is that wholemeal feshly baked-brown?
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    I came from points to this site doing calories, and they were exactly the same for me. I can usually eat all my calories no problems and even more when I exercize.
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
    i get differing totals for an once--some think it is 25grammes and i work it out as nearly 30g---- from some of the maths on food products here---imperial is about as relevant as furlongs to the real world

    is that wholemeal feshly baked-brown?

    Generally the breads listed in the book by ounce were made with white flour - I'm not sure if wheat flour has more cals per ounce? But in my experience with making bread with my breadmaker (in my pre-calorie counting days!) wheat bread tends to be more dense than white, so weighing it may in fact be a pretty good way of keeping track. IMHO however, if you you are trying to lose weight, then avoiding bread may be a good strategy. Easy for me to say, I've never been a big bread person to begin with... At any rate, I believe the calories on this website, or any other website/meal plan etc. should be used as a general guideline, and not to be a cause of worry if one goes over by a few measly calories in the course of a day.
  • de1amo
    de1amo Posts: 266 Member
    the problem is they use values per slice and i dont know what size slice they mean, i live away from the uk/usa and things are not standard. i buy from local bakeries with varying slice shapes and sizes- sometimes slices are small(10cm diameter but 15mm thick) and oval but today i have round loaf with slices that weigh an ounce and half(32g) --things arent even measured in oz and i dont have a scale with the conversion to weigh on!!
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