Newbie Needs Help with Daily Calories & Macros Intake

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peachcity007
peachcity007 Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello MFP Family,

MFP set my Net Calories Consumed Per Day as 1,200 calories but I believe it should be higher using my goal weight BMR and exercise calories to be burned. In addition, the macronutrients ratio set by MFP will definitely not help me to loss weight, so, can someone please help me with customizing my daily calories and macronutrients Intake. Here are my stats:

Height: 5ft 2'

Age: 27 yrs

Current Wt: 192 Ibs

Goal Weight: 117 Ibs

Body Fat: 46%

Body Type: Endomorph

Normal Daily Activity: Desk job (8am - 5pm) but I take the stairs at work and walk to places as much as possible.

To achieve my goal, I plan to exercise at home (DVD workouts - Cardio & Strength Training) 60 minutes for 5 days/ week.



Some friends have told me to start eating the amount of calories for my goal weight now which will make it easier to maintain the weight when I reach my goal. Is this true? I need to lose 75 Ibs by June, 2015, but I am really confused about the daily calories & macronutrients intake. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Replies

  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    MY HOME > Goals > Change Goals > Custom

    The answer to your second question is it depends on the initial amount of weight a person has to lose. Slow and steady is the best policy for most people.

    As a rule of thumb, the following weekly targets would give a balance between minimizing negative side effects and seeing a reasonable weekly weight loss:

    More than 75 lbs: 2 lbs/week
    40-75 lbs: 1.5 lbs/week
    10-40 lbs: 1 lb/week
    Less than 10 lbs: 0.5 lb/week

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    So realize that MFP is giving you a NON-exercise eating goal of 1200, based on you likely selecting Sedentary (though it sounds like you make it closer to Lightly Active by your other activity) and selecting weight loss goal of probably 2 lbs weekly (which is reasonable at this point until you have 50 left).

    But when you exercise, as you have observed or realize already, you'll need to eat more than 1200.

    So when you log your exercise, your daily burn goes up, MFP takes the deficit off still, and new higher eating level on workout days.

    If you want more calories in general, make your level Lightly Active I think it really is now.
    Keep the 2 lb loss goal, unless you just want rest days to be higher, which you can do anyway.
    Log your workouts.
    Eat your new daily goal.

    And indeed, macro's are per RDA for folks eating at maintenance, higher protein when in a deficit.

    And eating at goal weight maintenance is fine, but you'll have a much smaller deficit than you reasonably could have, and it'll really be prone to miscalculations and errors as you get closer.
    I had a whole program setup on it.

    You can still see the vestiges of it if desired in the spreadsheet on my profile page.
    Stay on Simple Setup tab and Progress tab only.
    Once done looking at all the sample data and changing it to see effects, delete all of it in yellow cells - get your own data in there.
    At the bottom are instructions for changing MFP and macro recommendations, but also a right-side chart for Eating For Future You, which takes that concept a tad better by keeping a 5% deficit on future maintenance in there until the end.
    You can compare and see it's much less deficit than normal method.
  • peachcity007
    peachcity007 Posts: 4
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    Thank you Heybales! I am checking out the spreadsheet right now. Should I complete the Activity Calculator based on my current activity (lightly active) or my new workout plan to lose the weight?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Thank you Heybales! I am checking out the spreadsheet right now. Should I complete the Activity Calculator based on my current activity (lightly active) or my new workout plan to lose the weight?

    Start with the one you won't keep just to see what you were likely burning, and then go to new one to compare.

    And be aware of the differences regarding workouts and losing weight.

    Diet is for weight loss - done right just fat loss, done wrong includes muscle mass loss.

    Exercise is for heart health and body improvements that usually has weight gain as side effect - done right can support fat loss, done wrong can help muscle loss.

    Only thing workouts will do for losing weight is making your daily burn higher, so when you eat less than that, it's hopefully eating enough to keep you satisfied and adhering to the plan.

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