calorie intake question

Your hrm monitors numbers will be wrong they are designed and the algorithm used is for away state cardio.

You might not like hearing this but lower your weight loss goal to 1 lb a week loss. It will be a 500 calorie deficit. You can eat food, enjoy the process, AND STILL LOSE WEIGHT. Yeah, its slow but you did not put on the pounds in a week and you are not going to lose them in a week. Go slower.

As mentioned, the HRM wont measure your calorie burn for a 24 hour period as its not designed to work that way. MFP takes you height, weight, age and gender and calculates your numbers based on known formulas for the average person with your same statistics. Suprisingly, its a pretty good estimate... for the average person. Like most of us are.

Now it is awesome that you have a HRM. Wear it during exercise and add that to the MFP calories given so you can eat even more. Eat food, exercise, get sleep, drink water, and after some time BAM thinner, more fit you!

Would 300 cal jump have any negative effects? I've ate 1,200 steadily - or tried anyway; a lot of times I forget to log my hmr stats and come in under my calorie goal. I know this isn't very healthy, but at the same time I can't just eat 400 cals to make up for it at ten o'clock in the evening. Maybe psychically (although that seems even unhealthier) but definitely not mentally.

If your daily maintenance cals is 2000, eating 1500 will still help you lose weight. You will end up with a weekly deficit of 3500 cals and that is 1 lb. So you lose 1 lb a week.

If you burn cals at the gym, say 300, you would then eat around 1800. That day. And still lose weight. I work out to eat more food (as well as geet fit) but the main reason if I want to lose .5 lb a week, MFP says I need to eat 1450 in cals. Thats not enough food for me to get through my day and lose weight for the long haul. So I workout. And eat ~1850 each and every day.

But this whole process is about consistency. EVERY DAY. If you dont accurately account for every calorie of food you eat or burn off, you never know how many cals you can eat at the end of the day. The more you do it correctly, the easier it becomes. I am on day 265 and its second nature to me right now.

If you are having a hard time figuring out what your daily burn is, you should look into an activity tracker like Fitbit. I can honestly say, having the Fitbit is the best $100 I have ever spent on weight loss and its helped me lose the majority of my weight. My days vary as well. Some are lazy, some are active so I needed something to help me track my calorie burn outside of fitness. And the FB is the winner in my book.

HRMs are for tracking steady state cardio only. It is important to note that HRMs are not accurate for weight lifting and will not give you an accurate burn. They are also not meant for HIIT. Temperature extremes and daily burn tracking (e.g. I wear it all day to find out what I should be taking in) are also inaccurate. HRMs are for steady state aerobic exercise only!

This is a helpful blog post for understanding HRMs:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

they may not be 100% accurate but it's better than guessing or pulling a random number out of your *kitten*.

I wear a fitbit and while it's not perfect, it's been closer than anything else I have used and I have consistently lost what it said I should have based on my movements.

HRMs are for tracking steady state cardio only. It is important to note that HRMs are not accurate for weight lifting and will not give you an accurate burn. They are also not meant for HIIT. Temperature extremes and daily burn tracking (e.g. I wear it all day to find out what I should be taking in) are also inaccurate. HRMs are for steady state aerobic exercise only!

This is a helpful blog post for understanding HRMs:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

they may not be 100% accurate but it's better than guessing or pulling a random number out of your *kitten*.

I wear a fitbit and while it's not perfect, it's been closer than anything else I have used and I have consistently lost what it said I should have based on my movements.

HRMs are not 100% accurate even when they are used for their intended purpose (steady state cardio). They still have a margin of error. That being said, when HRMs are used for purposes they are not intended for they can become grossly inaccurate. It really isn't much better than pulling a number out of nowhere if the device is being used for things it was never designed to handle.

A Fitbit is not a HRM and uses different metrics to track activity. I have both a Bodymedia Fit and a HRM. I love them both! However, it is important to know what these devices are actually designed to track. I agree, they are very helpful when they are used correctly!

HRMs have an intended purpose they were designed for and I was simply pointing out that they are inaccurate if used incorrectly. Many people think they can wear a HRM to track anything and everything, and it is simply not the case.