Please explain to this noob

x_pac
x_pac Posts: 2
in Getting Started
Hello, everyone. I'm fairly new to fitness and this site, and this is my first time posting in a forum so let me know if I'm doing anything wrong.

Anyway, I'm hoping for some clarification about myfitnesspal's calorie intake. My goal is about 1200 calories/day, but I began to notice the daily calorie goal increased every time I added an exercise. I kind of understand that it's making up for the calories lost from exercising, but isn't eating more calories detrimental to the point of losing weight or staying fit?

On that note, since I began taking note of what I eat and how many calories I'm consuming, I noticed I tend to eat less than 1200 calories a day from my usual meals. I'm aiming to lose weight (4' 11" at about 150 lbs) but find it hard to meet the calorie goal when I feel full after my meals, so when the daily calorie goal increases each time I add an exercise, I find it even harder to meet the calorie goal. Are there any recommendations of foods or ideas to help me overcome this problem?

Thanks for your time!

Replies

  • caitology
    caitology Posts: 50
    This gets posted quite a bit here. You get calories added back when you exercise because your deficit is already built into the 1200 goal, which is also the absolute minimum you should be eating. If you were to eat 1200 calories and burn 300 through exercise, that would mean you were only netting 900 calories for the day. The 1200 goal is your calorie goal to lose weight if you were to not exercise at all. This is only if you list yourself as sedentary. If you list yourself as lightly active or moderately active, those exercise calories are already built into your calorie goal and you wouldn't eat them back.

    I don't completely buy that you're having trouble eating 1200 either. If that was the case, you would already be losing weight. Make sure you're not guessing portions and that you're using a food scale to measure. Peanut butter and nuts are a really good way to get up to your goal. Peanut butter is 200 calories per 2 tbsp.
  • jamesryanfletcher
    jamesryanfletcher Posts: 128 Member
    Caitology is on very much the right track. MFP doesn't allow for exercise calories regardless of what activity level you choose at setup, always expecting you to eat back your exercise calories. Due to inaccuracies in how they are calculated generally people are advised to eat back 50 - 75 % of the exercise calories.

    Yes, each calorie you eat reduces how much weight you lose, but running too large a caloric deficit makes sticking with a modified diet harder than it needs to be and makes lasting lifestyle change unlikely.

    This thread is full of epic win:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    and the threads linked from it have very good methods for working out what you should be taking in.

    There is no 'magic bullet' for weight loss and trying to shift a lifetime's accumulation quickly is a path to pain and suffering, not success.

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