PLEASE help me understand calories!!!

RosieQ19
RosieQ19 Posts: 13
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone!

Hope you are all doing fantastically well!

Right, I don't know how much calories I consume a day as sometimes I can go all day without eating a meal and then will have loads of sweet stuff in the night (terrible I know) and other times I will have proper meals but always raid the fridge for sweet stuff.
I have gotten rid of the sweet stuff, and bought a lot of healthy food. It isn't the food that's the problem anyway believe it or not because I can easily eat healthier food, i've done it before but without the exercise.

What I need help with IS how many calories should I eat a day?!?! MFP suggests just over 1200 for me, which I think will be easy for me to stick too, with working out 4 times a week too. BUT if I eat a lot more than that a day (or even less) will that be too much of a big jump? I want to lose around 3 stone by April, 5 stone overall. I know a plateau is very possible eventually but I'll deal with that if it happens. I just want to know if you guys think this sounds good:

1200 calories a day, Couch to 5k every other day 3 times a week, walking 10,000 steps or more EVERYDAY, and should I incorporate a few strength exercises on the same days at the C25k or do them on my off days from the C25k?

Sorry this is long, but any info will be greatly appreciated!! x

Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Your exercise plan is great, but to lose weight you'll need to know how many calories you're taking in. You need to record those, and find a way of putting them in your diary.
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
    If MFP has given you 1200 calories, I guess you have set your target loss at 2lbs per week. I started like this, but changed it to 1lb/week after about 6 weeks because you will plateau. Any calories you burn through exercise, make sure you eat them back, particularly at 1200 - MFP has built in a deficit to give you the weight loss. If you don't eat back the calories, your deficit will be too high and you are likely to stall as your body struggles to get enough energy. (There is a lot of controversy over this point on MFP, just search the forums for 1200 calorie diets and you will quickly see the disagreements). Whether you agree with the arguments or not is up to you - I can only tell you of my experience.

    A lot of people will give you a TDEE based answer. This is a fine method, but personally I cannot be bothered to gather the data and do the maths. It is essentially a different way of calculating and working at a deficit.

    I hope this helps!
  • unFATuated
    unFATuated Posts: 204 Member
    Why don't you try to log what you currently eat (how many calories) for a week by weighing and measuring your current intake, ignoring the goal that MFP has set for you for now. Buy a food scale if you don't already have one. Log everything that you eat, as accurately as you can. You will find there are entries for nearly everything in the database, and if not, you can use the nutritional panel on any packaged food to add it yourself if you need to. Once you've done that, look again at the calorie goal that MFP has set for you. For a lot of people, going to 1200ish straight away is a big jump as many people who are gaining weight or struggling to lose it would be eating FAR more than that. You might find if you're eating significantly more than 1200 now that going to a more moderate caloric goal might be helpful at first.

    I think I would have been eating well over 2500 calories per day when I first started on MFP and of course I wanted fast weight loss so I selected 2lbs per week and was given a 1200 calorie goal. Not knowing any better I struggled and struggled with this as the deficit was simply too much too soon for me. If I was starting again, knowing what I know now, I would try to get an idea of what I currently consume and then try for a small deficit at first and reduce calories if/when my weight loss stalled.
  • Mr_Excitement
    Mr_Excitement Posts: 833 Member
    Why don't you try to log what you currently eat (how many calories) for a week by weighing and measuring your current intake, ignoring the goal that MFP has set for you for now. Buy a food scale if you don't already have one. Log everything that you eat, as accurately as you can. You will find there are entries for nearly everything in the database, and if not, you can use the nutritional panel on any packaged food to add it yourself if you need to. Once you've done that, look again at the calorie goal that MFP has set for you. For a lot of people, going to 1200ish straight away is a big jump as many people who are gaining weight or struggling to lose it would be eating FAR more than that. You might find if you're eating significantly more than 1200 now that going to a more moderate caloric goal might be helpful at first.

    I think I would have been eating well over 2500 calories per day when I first started on MFP and of course I wanted fast weight loss so I selected 2lbs per week and was given a 1200 calorie goal. Not knowing any better I struggled and struggled with this as the deficit was simply too much too soon for me. If I was starting again, knowing what I know now, I would try to get an idea of what I currently consume and then try for a small deficit at first and reduce calories if/when my weight loss stalled.

    I think this is great advice. Having a real, honest sample of what you're currently eating will be very helpful in figuring out exactly where your deficit needs to be set later on.

    Weight loss is all about counting calories, not exercise. Exercise is great, of course, and being well conditioned does wonders for your health, but as far as weight loss is concerned, it's very ineffective. The average person has to run a couple of miles just to burn off a donut, for instance. It's much more effective to just not eat the donut.

    Eat at the right calorie level (I'd also suggest one pound a week rather than 2), and you can lose all the weight you like while watching tv.
  • RosieQ19
    RosieQ19 Posts: 13
    Thanks :) I forgot to mention that I would be doing that!
  • RosieQ19
    RosieQ19 Posts: 13
    If MFP has given you 1200 calories, I guess you have set your target loss at 2lbs per week. I started like this, but changed it to 1lb/week after about 6 weeks because you will plateau. Any calories you burn through exercise, make sure you eat them back, particularly at 1200 - MFP has built in a deficit to give you the weight loss. If you don't eat back the calories, your deficit will be too high and you are likely to stall as your body struggles to get enough energy. (There is a lot of controversy over this point on MFP, just search the forums for 1200 calorie diets and you will quickly see the disagreements). Whether you agree with the arguments or not is up to you - I can only tell you of my experience.

    A lot of people will give you a TDEE based answer. This is a fine method, but personally I cannot be bothered to gather the data and do the maths. It is essentially a different way of calculating and working at a deficit.

    I hope this helps!

    Yeah, I have set it for 2lbs a week, but I realised it was because I had put my ultimate goal, so I have now changed it to my goal for April and my calories are now 1430 a day. I will take your advice and log what I usually eat and then start the journey properly. I understand this a lot better now. Do you think if I SOMETIMES eat back the exercise calories (or most of them) and sometimes just leave them because I'm not hungry, that that is okay? or is that unhealthy because i'm still not always eating them back? I have read a lot about this but find it very confusing and discouraging :( I just want to lose weight! haha.

    Thanks again for your help!
  • RosieQ19
    RosieQ19 Posts: 13
    Only just getting the hang of replying to individual posts on this.. haha

    thanks for all the answers everyone, i will take it all on board!
  • Live4theLift
    Live4theLift Posts: 329
    Yeah, I have set it for 2lbs a week, but I realised it was because I had put my ultimate goal, so I have now changed it to my goal for April and my calories are now 1430 a day. I will take your advice and log what I usually eat and then start the journey properly. I understand this a lot better now. Do you think if I SOMETIMES eat back the exercise calories (or most of them) and sometimes just leave them because I'm not hungry, that that is okay? or is that unhealthy because i'm still not always eating them back? I have read a lot about this but find it very confusing and discouraging :( I just want to lose weight! haha.

    Thanks again for your help!

    Eating back exercise calories isnt bad. MFP has it set to lose weight so any extra exercise is just icing on the deficit cake.
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
    Personally I eat them back if I am hungry and don't if I'm not. Just as going over a little isn't going to suddenly make you fat, not eating back isn't suddenly going to kill you. Like a lot of things, common sense and moderation should prevail!
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1069275-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

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