Confused about how many calories to consume

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danicathea16
danicathea16 Posts: 14 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

I am a little confused at how many calories I should be eating cause I want to lose weight and gain muscle and I know its hard to do at the same time. Right now I am supposed to eat 1310 a day, but I am burning around 500 in working out a day. Does this mean that on days I work out I should consume more to make up for the calories I am burning or should I just keep the 1310. I am also concerned if I keep the 1310 I might not be gaining muscle cuz I could be causeing my body to go into storage mode since it is close to the 1200 line. I am just very confused.

Thanks

Replies

  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
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    Well, you're not going to be doing muscle building in a deficit (for those who are newbies to strength training, get around 1g per pound of lean body mass in protein, are doing a good hypertrophy routine in heavy lifting there is a minor window for small gains but it is very tiny). You need a surplus of calories for your body to even think of converting energy to muscle.

    You can, however, retain your current muscle in a deficit by picking a non aggressive calorie goal, getting a good amount of protein, and lifting heavy. You can also gain quite a bit of strength while in a deficit without adding new muscle mass.

    How much you eat is dependent on you. There's no cookie cutter answer. With so little to lose, aim for .5-1lb a week loss.

    ETA:

    Here's a great read. Read this and the links within
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    I would also aim to eat back at least half of your exercise calories (depending on how you're gaging burns, MFP overestimated them), if you're using MFP method
  • GiddieGrl
    GiddieGrl Posts: 11
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    On days that you work out and burn 500 calories - you would/could eat 1810 calories that day to keep your calorie intake at 1310 . :)
  • CopperB73
    CopperB73 Posts: 39 Member
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    I think it goes:

    Yes, you should eat extra if you exercise. So if you do 500 calories of exercise, try to eat them back. Don't have to do it the very same day - e.g. eating when you aren't hungry - you might find you are naturally hungrier the next day for example. You shouldn't always be well below what MFP has calculated you should consume (search for "exercise calories" for more info: this is something that confuses a lot of us :) )

    Eat enough protein. The human body can use that as calories if you eat more protein than you need for muscle and other growth, but you can't grow muscle without protein.

    I believe its difficult to both lose weight and get more muscly at the same time. You might find that one is happening first & you need to wait a while then focus on the other. If you are getting musclier, your weight might go up (because muscle is denser than fat). So some people swear by either taking to the tape measure rather than the scales, or taking photos of yourself in swimsuit or similar so that you can compare how much visible fat you have.

    Hope that helps

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