Should I be eating lesser calories?

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FloJo9011
FloJo9011 Posts: 43
in Fitness and Exercise
I ate my MFP generated calories and did probably burned like 300 calories today.


I feel like I ate too much though and it not doing something right.

Should I just eat 1,200 calories and burn 500 calories at the gym.... then that would just be 700 calories?

Please excuse me if I am being dingy or naive to this whole calorie intake... but I just want to make sure that I will see results?

So, would 1,200 calorie intake and burning 500 calories at the gym would be more effective?

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Nope. Starving your body of the nutrients it needs to function properly is never the right answer. If you eat 1200 calories and then burn 500 at the gym - as long as you're actuate in your burn amounts you then need to eat at least 500 more calories. You shouldn't net less than 1200.
  • onelov3
    onelov3 Posts: 37 Member
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    Since I don't know how to insert a gif here, look up a picture of Michael Scott/Steve Carell and his "NOOOO!" line in The Office.

    On a serious note, don't. Your body needs the nutrition and your body is already strained just eating 1200. I recommend eating back AT LEAST half your exercise calories. Not only will you have more energy to complete your workouts, your body will thank you by losing weight faster over the long run. Staying at 1200 calories plus exercise is asking too much of your body, it will think it is starving, and slow your weight loss to a crawl/non-existent.

    Edited because I misread the post the first time through.
  • Carmenbraun55
    Carmenbraun55 Posts: 50 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    try this it does work !! :)
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    MFP provides a net calorie goal that does not include exercise. It is based on the concept of reaching that net goal daily to lose weight at your targeted rate.
  • Buddhasmiracle
    Buddhasmiracle Posts: 925 Member
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    Tag for in place of a road map
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Your body burns calorie everyday for basic function.....heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. When your body doesn't get enough calories for this basic function it has take what it needs from fat AND muscle.

    People who try to lose too quickly end up looking "skinny fat" .....this means you are a smaller version of the current you. I want to reduce my body fat %......that means a moderate calorie deficit. Eating (at least) 1200 + exercise calories. 1200 is MFP's lowest number already....1200 maybe a really low number for you already. To see how low, find your BMR ....these are the calories you body uses for "basic function"...personally I wouldn't eat less than my BMR.
  • Frogtalk
    Frogtalk Posts: 10
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    1200 calories is NOT enough calories.. no matter what diet you are on. You can adjust your goals in settings. Here's how I did it. I put in all the info MFP asked for, and it gave me a MBR of 2160 calories per day. Since I want to lose about 50 pounds AND I am on a VLCHF diet, I went into my settings, and clicked on updating my exercise/diet profile. I stated that I wanted to lose 1 pound per week (minus 500 calories from my MBR).. a tech guy my hubby follows is using MFP, and said the 1 pound a week weight loss is accurate, any more or less tends to be extreme. So, once I get my diet/exercise profile updated, because I'm VLCHF, I went to goals, and adjusted what percentage of my diet should be from carbs, protein and fat. I got that straightened out, and on the right hand column once you are in GOALS, you can see what your calorie deficit is to your BMR, and you can see what your weight loss will be.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    How did you come upon this 1200 calorie intake goal? Was it based on reasonable weekly goals?
  • sagordon
    sagordon Posts: 8 Member
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    If you don't lose weight, you can go lower some days. Let's face it, we are all going to go over some days too.

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