Scared to keep eating more calories

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KTNYC531
KTNYC531 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I have recently decided to start my healthy eating again and have converted from Sparkpeople to MFP. So far I love the food tracking app much better!
I need some advice on the recommended caloric intake. On spark people, I had a recommended 1200-1550 calorie range but I would always stay between 1200 - 1300 calories. This was with working out twice a week doing HIIT strength training. I lost approx. 25 lbs in several months doing that. My story is the same, life took over and I gained approx. 20 lbs back. I recently decided to do T25 as I had a friend who had great results. I do the workouts 5 days a week for 25 minutes and twice a week HIIT strength training workouts. Since I just started logging in the workouts, I noticed that MFP recommends 1300 calories without working out and when I do it keeps upping my caloric intake. I don't know what to do because I have never really attempted to eat above 1300 calories a day on most days when I was trying to lose weight. Since spark people didn't adjust even with workout included I am scared to go too high and not get the results I want. Any advice would be great. :smile:

Thanks you so much!!!

Replies

  • bradsbaby1996
    bradsbaby1996 Posts: 154 Member
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    I really don't have any more to lose (lost 110) but I was consistently eating less than 1200 a day (5'8).. I upped my calories first to 1350 then to 1500 and I am losing again. . So to lose weight, you definitely have to eat enough! Hope this helps and congrats for getting back on track!
  • KTNYC531
    KTNYC531 Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for your feedback. I am going to try and eat a little bit more when I work out as I did notice that I was very hungry at the 1200 calorie range. I could not eat to the full caloric recommendation on MFP but I will slowly see what happens. Will try for 2 weeks and see my results. Thanks again.
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
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    Mfp is built so that you are supposed to eat back your exercise calorie. However, it greatly overestimates calories burned, and most people eat back 1/3 to 1/2 of those calories. Personally, i use other apps and websites to track exercise calories burned, then input my activity and calories burned myself. I also eat around 1500 calories a day. Good luck!
  • rosiemaji
    rosiemaji Posts: 23 Member
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    Most people on MFP don't eat back all of their exercise calories as those are probably rated as maximum effort and most people and classes don't attain that level and to try would probably be over-doing it for most of us. Most people report eating back no more than 50% of them. Personally, I seldom eat back any of my exercise calories. I usually eat between 1200 and 1250 calories per day even on exercise days (I exercise 6 days a week). If you plug in your numbers, MFP will give you their suggestion of how many calories to eat based on how many pounds you wish to lose a week. One pound a week is a good conservative and safe goal. If you are losing more than that per week but you are very hungry, slowly adjust your calories upward until you are no longer hungry but are still losing 1 lb per week. Beyond that you have to find what fits for you. If you are super hungry at 1200 then you probably need to eat more - ideally more fat and protein. Some people will stop losing if they eat too little; others will keep losing no matter what the calorie deficit.
    If you do your calorie adjustments slowly, as you are planning to do, you will know when you have hit that sweet spot. Then ignore the MFP recommendations to add more calories.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Most people eat half their exercise calories back (this leaves room for miscalculations). MFP is designed for you to eat them back, so you wont be "going over" if you chose to do so. More importantly, you want to set yourself up for success, and you can't do that if you're hungry.
  • KTNYC531
    KTNYC531 Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you everyone..I started trying to only eat half my workout calories back and will see what my results are. On a great note, I lost 1lb this week and 2 inches overall!
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    I've been eating back calories and still losing weight. I underestimate my exercise and don't count normal activities like cleaning the house or shopping. I find that I do better when I don't feel like I'm on a diet! :wink:
  • onefortyone
    onefortyone Posts: 531 Member
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    Good job so far with your progress and commitment! :)

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