Confusion about cals

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Mom2ATM
Mom2ATM Posts: 147 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So Im very new to this as in restarting after a while and not taking it seriously before. Im wondering, my calorie goal says 1730 a day, am i supposed to eat that or less than that and am i supposed to eat my exercise cals and im breastfeeding do i need to eat those extra 500 cals as well or stay below it? Im so confused as to how ill lose weight if eating those extra calories when youre supposed to burn more than you consume. my milk supply is well established so im not concerned about starting to lose weight in fact i was so hungry in the early stages ive gained back every lb since giving birth which is only about 9lbs (baby #4 was 8lb 6 oz ) i also have a DVT in my leg and have horrible swelling from it that will NOT go down with anything!!! not compression socks not walking not elevating it not cutting sodium not drinking more water (which i drink plenty of) so i have that working against me as well :/ it sucks seeing 302lbs on the scale affter 4 kids especially since i started off at 145!!! I saw mysef on skype today when talking with my dad and couldnt believe how big i really am!!!

Replies

  • MexicanOsmosis
    MexicanOsmosis Posts: 382 Member
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    MFP sets your calorie goal to be able to lose while eating that many. As for eating back your exercise calories, there seems to be those that are for it and those against it. It's really about what works best for you.
  • fat2strongbeth
    fat2strongbeth Posts: 735 Member
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    Eat your calorie gaol and you exercise calories. I'm not about adding extra for breast feeding. Does MFP ask about that when you were setting up your goals?
  • backlin522
    backlin522 Posts: 3
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    Make sure if you continue to breastfeed while dieting that you increase your fluid intake. My daughter tried dieting while breast feeding and she didnt increase her fluids and her milk production decreased.
    As far as the calories I really have no advice I am struggling with MFP goal of only 1200 calories per day.
  • Mom2ATM
    Mom2ATM Posts: 147 Member
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    Eat your calorie gaol and you exercise calories. I'm not about adding extra for breast feeding. Does MFP ask about that when you were setting up your goals?

    theres an option to add it in your daily food intake "mommys making milk" i think its called it adjusts your calories by 500 by adding that as extra calories to consume kind of like when it adds the exercise cals
  • Mom2ATM
    Mom2ATM Posts: 147 Member
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    Make sure if you continue to breastfeed while dieting that you increase your fluid intake. My daughter tried dieting while breast feeding and she didnt increase her fluids and her milk production decreased.
    As far as the calories I really have no advice I am struggling with MFP goal of only 1200 calories per day.

    thats one thing i need to do is log my water intake for the day i do drink a lot of it only bc breastfeeding makes me thirsty anyway and its the only thing remotely quenching my thirst
  • Danielle_Stg11109
    Danielle_Stg11109 Posts: 13 Member
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    http://bmrcalculator.net/

    This website will calculate what you need to eat when you exercise based on how much you tend to move weekly. On days you don't workout, you should eat around your BMR. On days you do workout, eat 500 less of what your active BMR is. I general just try to eat my BMR the whole time because it's already 500 less than my active BMR.

    Hope this helps!
  • emmyvera
    emmyvera Posts: 599 Member
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    Thank you so much! Mommy making milk! That's what I needed. That just made my day. :smile:
  • RawCarrots
    RawCarrots Posts: 204 Member
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    I'm only answering theoretically as I GAINED all my weight while breastfeeding (was down to pre-pregnancy weight within days of giving birth, and then just gained slowly afterwards:blushing: ) Breastfeeding made me so hungry, especially in the early months

    Not sure how old your baby is, you are saying feeding is established, but in general the younger they are the less drastic cuts I'd consider to make sure you don't mess up your supply. If you've breastfeeding the older ones you'd know what to look out for. The way MFP is setup you are supposed to eat your exercise calories back, plus you are supposed to add extra for the breastfeeding. If I was doing it personally I'd probably add the 500 extra but not add the excersise and see how you get on, I get the impression many people overestimate exercise (or don't take into account the calories they'd burn just by staying still breathing, so count them twice) If you eat back all exercise calories and you are still losing weight, then keep it up, if not I'd eat half or none of them back and see how I get on.

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