need advice! I wanna make sure im doing everything right

My bmr i:sad: s 1842 how many calories should I eat and how many should I Burn through exercise each day? Mfp suggests I eat 1230 to loose two pounds a week.. I had someone say I should be on a 1400 I'm so confused ive been burning 300-400 calories with exercise each day.

Replies

  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    My bmr ids 1842 how many calories should I eat and how many should I Burn through exercise each day? Mfp suggests I eat 1230 to loose two pounds a week.. I had someone day I should be on a 1400 I'm so confused ive bf been buring 300-400 calories wiwith exercise each day.

    How much weight do you want to lose? 2lbs per week is very aggressive unless you have a large amount to lose.
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    Id like to loose at least 50lbs im at 230 atm gained 60 during my pregnancy a year ago
  • melissaw78
    melissaw78 Posts: 214 Member
    Any day under your TDE is a win.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. Set your goal to 1.5 lb. per week and eat back your exercise calories for several weeks. Then reevaluate.

    The Sexypants post should be required reading for all MFPers: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. Set your goal to 1.5 lb. per week and eat back your exercise calories for several weeks. Then reevaluate.

    The Sexypants post should be required reading for all MFPers: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    I'd agree with this. When I lost 42 lbs here a few years ago, I had it set to 1 lb per week, ate my exercise calories and lost 2lbs per week for a long time. Eventually I adjusted the settings. ;)
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    Im sorry Im very new to this what is a tde? Just joined yesterday. .
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    Im sorry Im very new to this what is a tde? Just joined yesterday. .

    It's usually TDEE, which stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's another way to calculate how much to eat. Basically it means that as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn each day, you will lose weight.
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    So if I est 1230 a day and burn 300 through exercise I should be fine? I should eat an extra 300? What if I don't eat 1230 and still burn 300 should I Still eat those back? Uugh my apologies this is confusing for me lol
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    I guess a better way to put it is if I stay at 1230 calories per day and burn 300 should it be successful or should I burn more
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    So if I est 1230 a day and burn 300 through exercise I should be fine? I should eat an extra 300? What if I don't eat 1230 and still burn 300 should I Still eat those back? Uugh my apologies this is confusing for me lol

    Don't worry, it confuses many people at first!

    I would change your settings to aim for 1 or 1.5 pounds per week.

    MFP has already calculated your calories to create a deficit without any exercise. MFP also wants you to maintain a consistent calorie deficit whether or not you exercise, so it wants you to eat the exercise calories you log.

    So you'd lose weight at the 1230 with no exercise. You'd lose lose weight at 1230 + eating the 300 exercise calories as well.

    Does that make sense?
  • lcangelini
    lcangelini Posts: 33 Member
    My only advice is to eat and exercise an amount that you can stick too. If you're too aggressive it's a lot harder to maintain later on. If eating 1230 calories and exercising is completely doable for you then perfect! Ideally you wanna adapt a healthier lifestyle that you can stick too so that you don't put the weight back on.
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    So if I est 1230 a day and burn 300 through exercise I should be fine? I should eat an extra 300? What if I don't eat 1230 and still burn 300 should I Still eat those back? Uugh my apologies this is confusing for me lol

    Don't worry, it confuses many people at first!

    I would change your settings to aim for 1 or 1.5 pounds per week.

    MFP has already calculated your calories to create a deficit without any exercise. MFP also wants you to maintain a consistent calorie deficit whether or not you exercise, so it wants you to eat the exercise calories you log.

    So you'd lose weight at the 1230 with no exercise. You'd lose lose weight at 1230 + eating the 300 exercise calories as well.

    Does that make sense?
  • lcangelini
    lcangelini Posts: 33 Member
    I guess a better way to put it is if I stay at 1230 calories per day and burn 300 should it be successful or should I burn more

    Yes. That's around what i'm doing a day and I'm losing about 1-1.5 pounds a week :)
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    Oops^^ lol ok so basically as long as I stay within my goal calories everyday exercise or not I should loose weight. But if I exercise as well I can still eat those calories back without worries .. so im doing good then.
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    Awesome thank you so much I was starting to feel very un motivated with all the confusion!
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    I guess a better way to put it is if I stay at 1230 calories per day and burn 300 should it be successful or should I burn more

    Yes. That's around what i'm doing a day and I'm losing about 1-1.5 pounds a week :)

    You can do whatever you like, however, there are a few potential issues with this. You are increasing your calorie deficit through exercise; your net calories for the day in this example are only 930 (assuming you aren't eating the exercise calories--no mention of eating them in this example).

    That's dangerous territory. When you create that large a calorie deficit, over time you are going to be tired, grumpy, hungry, get sick more easily. lose more muscle than people eating at a more reasonable deficit, probably get injured and eventually give up because this is not sustainable for people who don't have an eating disorder.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    Oops^^ lol ok so basically as long as I stay within my goal calories everyday exercise or not I should loose weight. But if I exercise as well I can still eat those calories back without worries .. so im doing good then.

    Yes, exactly! You got it! :flowerforyou:
  • carsynsmommy05
    carsynsmommy05 Posts: 9 Member
    How much have you all lost uding mfp and how long did it take?
  • lcangelini
    lcangelini Posts: 33 Member
    Oops^^ lol ok so basically as long as I stay within my goal calories everyday exercise or not I should loose weight. But if I exercise as well I can still eat those calories back without worries .. so im doing good then.

    Yep! :)
  • lcangelini
    lcangelini Posts: 33 Member
    How much have you all lost uding mfp and how long did it take?

    I don't know the exact number but I THINK I was around 152-153lbs around mid-May of this year. Now I'm at 137lbs. So about 15lbs 2 months.
  • FrankiesSaysRelax
    FrankiesSaysRelax Posts: 403 Member
    If you have 50 or more pounds to lose, I really don't suggest eating 1200 ish calories to lose weight. Honestly, it's just not necessary. You want to eat as much as you can while losing weight. If you're eating 1200 and you start to plateau and the weight loss stalls, you have nothing left to cut. And, being hungry sucks. I suggest using this website - http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Calculate your TDEE, eat 20% less than that and don't eat back workout calories.. that's factored in to your number.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    How much have you all lost uding mfp and how long did it take?

    A few years ago I lost 42 lbs and if I recall correctly, that was from late March to early August? Right around 5 months. For most of that time I ate all (or at least 2/3) of my exercise calories. (I'm back now because I got lazy and gained 15 of them back.)

    I'd recommend a food scale if you don't have one. Accurately measuring what you're eating makes all of this easier and you can't really do that without a food scale.

    I'd also recommend that you aim for 1 or 2 changes at a time. Adding vegetables or cutting out a junk food item--whatever. Try to make one healthy change per week, and then the next week make another one, etc. It's a lot easier than changing everything at once!
  • newlooknewme2014
    newlooknewme2014 Posts: 42 Member
    Hey, I don't know if you're still confused, but I found this article very helpful to explain the whole Calorie deficit thing!

    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/

    I personally, started with the higher amount of calories and gradually lowered it over time. It's a real shock to your current diet habits to just drop calories so drastically and I would think causes us to get discourage if we can't keep to it. What you're doing currently sounds pretty good! You can either burn your calories or eat less, but if you do both just be careful and make sure you're hitting that minimum 1,050-1,200 calories that we need just to function! :) Hope this helps ^_^

    Add me if you wish. Glad to support your journey!
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    BMR, BMI, TDEE - they're all approximate, and reality can vary a lot depending on your body fat %.
  • joepage612
    joepage612 Posts: 179 Member
    For the goal you described:
    Eat as much as you want but make sure you end up with 1230 at the end of the day.
    Like if you ate 1930 calories you would need to burn off 700 calories, to bring the net calories to 1230 for the end of day.
    Make sure you dont exercise below 1230 calories unless you eat more to raise it back up to 1230.
    If you burn off or eat less than 1230 you will get crazy hungry and its not healthy.
  • rosehips60
    rosehips60 Posts: 1,030 Member
    How much have you all lost uding mfp and how long did it take?
    I started in the middle of March and I've lost 23 pounds, I'm set to lose 1 pound per week, and I don't exercise consistently but my job is pretty active. I agree with the other poster that you shouldn't try to change everything at once or be too hard on yourself, think of this as a life change, not a diet. You don't want to lose the weight and not be prepared to keep it off with good habits going forward. Best of luck to you, add me as a friend if you want
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    My bmr is 1842 how many calories should I eat and how many should I Burn through exercise each day? Mfp suggests I eat 1230 to loose two pounds a week.. I had someone say I should be on a 1400 I'm so confused ive been burning 300-400 calories with exercise each day.
    I did a blog post about goal-setting, including healthy goal weight and calories.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/setting-goals-667045

    For a rough estimate, this is what my doctor & dietician use:
    1 - find your healthy goal weight using a BMI table. http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
    To start with, use the highest weight in the green range as your goal.
    Multiply that by 10 & there's your calorie goal.

    2 - If you're very overweight, and using method #1 would be more than a 1000 cal drop (from your current weight x 10), subtract 1000 from your current intake. [Don't go below 1200.] That would be 2 pounds per week lost. As you lose weight, nudge your calories down until you get to the goal weight x 10.

    My doctor says to ignore net calories and only worry about actual calories eaten.
    Treat any burned off in exercise as a bonus toward weight loss.
    If I'm really hungry at the end of the day I'll eat back 1/3 to 1/2 of what I burned that day, but it's not a regular thing.