Help!!!

christarae1
christarae1 Posts: 245 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm so damn confused on how many calories to eat! MFP says to eat around 1200. I've been reading people's blogs and such and they say you should never eat 1200 calories or less! I've read several times to figure out how many calories you should eat by a TDEE calculator. According to that, I should be eating around 2150 calories. Am I doing harm by eating 1200 or should I continue? Or should I be eating over a 1,000 calories more ( I exercise 6-7 days a week)? Does it really matter how much you eat as long as you have around a 500 calorid deficit daily?? Ugh I don't know what to do. I've been here over 2 months and have lost around 10lbs (not happy with that, but have had plenty of days of sabotage that it's my own fault). I feel that 1200 keeps me satisfied most days, but I don't want to be doing more harm than good. Anyone out there an expert at this? Or anyone losing weight by using the TDEE calculations?

Replies

  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    I'm so damn confused on how many calories to eat! MFP says to eat around 1200. I've been reading people's blogs and such and they say you should never eat 1200 calories or less! I've read several times to figure out how many calories you should eat by a TDEE calculator. According to that, I should be eating around 2150 calories. Am I doing harm by eating 1200 or should I continue? Or should I be eating over a 1,000 calories more ( I exercise 6-7 days a week)? Does it really matter how much you eat as long as you have around a 500 calorid deficit daily?? Ugh I don't know what to do. I've been here over 2 months and have lost around 10lbs (not happy with that, but have had plenty of days of sabotage that it's my own fault). I feel that 1200 keeps me satisfied most days, but I don't want to be doing more harm than good. Anyone out there an expert at this? Or anyone losing weight by using the TDEE calculations?
    Sounds like you're confusing yourself unnecessarily.
    1. Either choose to do TDEE minus 20% (or whatever percentage gives you a sustainable deficit for your goals)
    Or
    2. Eat at 1200/1400 and eat back your exercise calories. (providing you have fairly accurate estimate of intake and calorie burns).

    And by the way, 10lbs in 2 months is fantastic!

    This should answer most of your questions. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it?hl=The+basics+don't+complicate+it
  • christarae1
    christarae1 Posts: 245 Member
    Okay, thank you Cindy!! I will continue the 1200 calorie limit then. I have not been eating back my exercise calories though. I was afraid to since MFP's calorie burn seems to be really high. But I've been using an HRM, so its alot more accurate now. Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it!!
  • Sporks42
    Sporks42 Posts: 44 Member
    TDEE calculates your calorie burn by what you tell it you do, so you want that many calories every day. MFP assumes you will eat all of your exercise calories back (to keep you in a safe deficiency). You are correct that the exercises in the database are way high! Use your heart rate monitor to calculate your exercise calories and eat them all. Good luck!
  • christarae1
    christarae1 Posts: 245 Member
    Okay, thank you!!!!!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Christa,

    Ten pounds in two months sounds right to me. If you lose at a fast rate, you can end up harming your body.

    Don't eat 1,200 calories, eat more. Don't try and get fast results. The slower the results, the better the outcome. :smile:
  • christarae1
    christarae1 Posts: 245 Member
    Ok, thank you!!!

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