Calorie Goal Confusion

ndprobst
ndprobst Posts: 12 Member
in Getting Started
I am wondering if someone could help me as far as setting my calorie limit/goal for the day. I thought that mfp automatically was figuring out the best solution for me until I read a post a little bit ago that explained that mfp may actually be telling you to not eat enough calories causing your body to go into "starvation" mode. I won't go in to the full details, but she explained how you need a minimum of 1,200cals just to stay alive and that you need to take in additional calories of course for any other activity. After reading her very informative post (which can be read here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide) I'm left a little confused.

I put in all of my information into MFP using the guided goals and it stated that I should be eating 1,530cals in order to lose 2lbs/week.
These are my statistics . . .
Current Weight: 261lbs
Goal Weight: 180lbs
Height: 5ft 10in
Daily Activities: Sedentary
Workout Goals: 4x a week for 30min./workout

Then I tried figuring out my TDEE and then using her tip of reducing the TDEE by 20% to find out what my calorie total should be to lose weight and I came up with a calorie total of 2,215. Now is it just me or do these two calorie numbers seem really far apart from each other!

So, I guess what I'm asking is for somebody to show me how to figure out how many calories I should be eating a day. Is using the guided goal making on mfp really that off or is it fine to use.

Further measurements that might help:
Wrist: 7in
Neck: 15.5in
Waist: 46in
Hip: 51.25in

Replies

  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    First - TDEE -20% is closer to 1lb a week. You have MFP set for 2lbs a week. That's a difference of 500 calories right there.

    Second - MFP expects you to log your exercise and eat those calories back on those 4 days you workout. The TDEE method has accounted for those calories and spread them over the week.
    Say you burn 200 calories for that 30 minutes, 4 times a week, that means, 4 times a week you will be eating 1730 calories (your 1530 calories plus the exercise of 200).
    Also keep in mind that is still set at 2lbs a week, so for 1 lb a week, your goal would be closer to 2230 with exercise for those 4 days.

    2230 is pretty close to the 2125 goal. That it is a little more, but on other days you will eat a little less.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    as 3DR said, you're basically coming up with the same number using 2 different methods. relax, eat your calories, do your workouts, and check to see how your scale weight is progressing every 3-4 weeks. adjust if needed
  • heel_striker
    heel_striker Posts: 32 Member
    I don't use the TDEE method so I can't help there, although from what I understand it has already taken into consideration your additional activity so you wouldn't eat over the 2,215.

    MFP is telling you to NET 1,530. So, if you eat 1,530 calories a day and do nothing outside your normal routine then continue to eat 1,530 calories a day. BUT if you work out and burn say 400 calories doing that you need to eat back those calories. So in reality you would eat 1,930 calories that day. However, some people will say you should eat back 50%-75% of the calories as some of the burns on MFP database are usually high. If you have a heartrate monitor you can use that when you are doing steady state cardio for a more realistic caloric burn. I have used MFP guided goal thing and lost 40 lbs but you need to figure out what is best for you.
  • mebepiglet123
    mebepiglet123 Posts: 327 Member
    Start with the tdee you worked out eat all your calories but don't eat back exercise points if using this method.
    MFP figures do not take into account exercise you do. But Tdee equation does.
    You do not have to starve yourself to lose weight, as other said if after a few weeks you are not losing then reduce a little. As you get smaller your body requires less calories to function. (Usually but not always).

    2lbs is a lot to lose weekly 1lb is more realistic, slow and steady wins the race. Good luck.
  • smaxw7
    smaxw7 Posts: 15
    I'm not an expert by any means, however, my understanding is that if you use MFP's calculator, 1530 would be your minimum caloric intake. If you remain sedentary and eat only 1530 calories/day, you should lose 2lbs/week, If you exercise daily and burn 300/day calories, you can "eat back" those calories and still continue to lose 2lbs/week while eating 1830 calories/day.

    MFP is basically cutting 1000 calories/day from your estimated daily burn in order to accomplish the 2lb/week goal. There are other calculators out there that may help, but I don't have any suggestions.

    If you think that is too difficult, set it to 1 lb/week, eat more, exercise and don't eat back your exercise calories. You will probably lose more than 1 lb a week, but you won't feel as deprived and that makes things easier/more sustainable for the long run.

    I weigh 195, eat 1600/day, exercise (1 hr circuit training OR 30 minutes elliptical) 4-6x/week and I don't eat back my exercise calories. I lose 1-2lbs/week.

    I've found it a better strategy for me to set my calorie goal a little higher, log accurately and NOT eat back my exercise calories. I do this because it's very difficult to know exactly how many calories you burn at any given activity.

    I hope this helps!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    So as 3DR showed how closely they actually match, I'll add a future point to keep in mind.

    2lb weekly is reasonable weight loss goal now.

    But when you get to about 40 lbs to true healthy weight, switch to 1.5 weekly.
    To 20 lbs left, to 1 lb weekly.
    10 lbs, 0.5 lbs weekly.

    That way you keep the goal reasonable.

    And if you do exercise like walking or running that has a specific intensity or pace to it, then you can trust the database energy burn.
    For ones that have no entry, really think about it - was the Zumba class really vigorous the whole 30 min, or was 10 warmup and 10 min cooldown actually much easier, and only 10 min was vigorous. Or frequent stops doing something less intense for minutes at a time.
    That kind of thing.
    People think it's really off when in reality they aren't doing the stated level for the whole time claimed.
  • ndprobst
    ndprobst Posts: 12 Member
    Thank you everybody it makes so much more sense now I really appreciate it!!

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