oh so confused about how many calories to eat!

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cmcx3
cmcx3 Posts: 22
in Food and Nutrition
I am ridiculously confused about how much I should be eating a day. I'm unsure of NET calories, etc.
I just signed up this morning, so bear with me! haha when I put in all of my information, MFP set my daily calories at 1,480. is that how much I'm supposed to eat every day? or should I be eating more than that once I exercise? or does that 1,480 already take exercise into account? :( please help haha I feel like a crazy person!

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  • teisha98
    teisha98 Posts: 13
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    Once you log in what type of workout that you have done for the day then it will give you more calories that you can eat. The 1480 is what you can eat without doing any exercise. Hope this helps
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Once you log in what type of workout that you have done for the day then it will give you more calories that you can eat. The 1480 is what you can eat without doing any exercise. Hope this helps

    This!^

    MFP builds the deficit in BEFORE exercise (as long as your activity level doesn't include working out).

    Be careful re: calorie burns using MFP ..... some exercises (and machines too) can be overstated. You can use a heart rate monitor ... should be more accurate ... or eat a % of calories back if calories burns seem excessive.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    Once you log in what type of workout that you have done for the day then it will give you more calories that you can eat. The 1480 is what you can eat without doing any exercise. Hope this helps


    Yep - just be careful about your exercise Calories. MFP has a tendency to overestimate Caloric burn - many people only eat about half of their exercise Cals.


    As an example...

    You start out with 1480
    You exercise and MFP bumps you up to 2080 based upon an estimated 600 Calorie burn from exercise.
    Many people will only eat about 1780 or so, just to make sure they continue to have a deficit.

    Of course, if after 1780 you still feel hungry - especially if you're not particularly hungry on your regular 1480 days - go ahead and eat some more. As long as you're on an overall weekly deficit, you'll lose.


    edit: BAH! Ninja's by TeaBea... :happy:
  • cmcx3
    cmcx3 Posts: 22
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    thank you for the quick responses! I really appreciate it!
    however, I am having a very hard time believing I will be able to eat that many calories a day... I mean, it's already 3pm here and I still have 1,053 calories left to eat, and I haven't exercised yet >_<
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    Then eat some Calorie-dense foods. Peanut butter - depending upon brand - is about 200 Cals for 2 Tbsp. I almost always end up eating 3 Tbsp. in a sandwich. That, plus the bread, is over 400 Cals down real quick. Wash it down with some milk and you're now over 500 Cals. Then eat a good dinner.
  • cmcx3
    cmcx3 Posts: 22
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    I honestly never noticed how few calories I eat :/
    no doubt my body is in starvation mode! it probably holds on to everything I put into it! and I probably don't even have a metabolism at this point :'(
  • cmcx3
    cmcx3 Posts: 22
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    just wanted to thank everybody again :) I've been on a couple of similar sites where my posts wouldn't even get looked at for weeks!
    I have a good feeling about this place!
  • ddky
    ddky Posts: 381 Member
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    I started out at 1200. I was losing weight, but I was hungry. I went up to 1400. I still lost weight and not hungry most days. I eat back part of my exercise calories but not all because I don't do any strenuous exercise. Usually I just do a 30 min walk. I just bumped up calories to 1500. I will do that for a few weeks and see if I still lose weight. Welcome to MFP. This is a great site.
  • lexlyn14
    lexlyn14 Posts: 290 Member
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    Hi...MFP put you at 1480 calories before exercise...which means if you dont exercise at all you can eat 1480 calories and still lose weight...However if you work out enter in the mfp exercise and it will tell you how many calories you burned...it will then add those burned calories to your existing calories so you can eat more...However BE CAREFUL believing how many calories mfp says you burned...I just bought a HRM to be more accurate and found that MFP way over inflates the calories burned...good luck!!!

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