2500 calories is dieting?? Seriously??

Samerah12
Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
edited September 24 in Food and Nutrition
So I'm new to the site and fairly new to actively trying to lose weight. I'm starting at 194 lbs and 5'7 and very active. After setting my activity level at the highest and not logging my normal day to day "exercise" (like cleaning, walking to work and back- about 4 miles) MFP says I can eat 1560 calories. After logging what I consider to be (for me) REAL exercise for the last couple of days the site says I can eat 2500 calories!! 2500!!

Can this be right? Does this actually work? I'd love to hear from other similarly active people who are eating that many calories and losing because I'm just having trouble believing it.
«1

Replies

  • AngBel
    AngBel Posts: 2
    I, too, am having a hard time believing it...so I don't eat those calories. Should I be eating that much????
  • Sissy4EverX3
    Sissy4EverX3 Posts: 247
    Mine is set for 2210, and that's with a "sedentary" lifestyle. (I work in an office and am seated most of the day.) I made the decision to start making changes on February 13, but didn't start using MFP until the 19th. So far, I've lost 8 pounds. And I *rarely* eat 2000, much less 2210. I decided to leave it as is for now.
  • leomom72
    leomom72 Posts: 1,797 Member
    the more you work out, and log in, it raises your calorie intake, meaning you burned off those cals, so you can eat them back..i believe it also gauges the number by your height, weight, etc..no worries :) best of luck
  • amycal
    amycal Posts: 646 Member
    Did you ever track what you ate before you started to limit it?

    I started at 184 and I am 5'6" but 20 years older than you. My current setting is 1420 PLUS whatever exercise I add. I have sedentary jobs. I have lost 20 pounds and gone from a 14 to a 10 by tracking on MFP and exercising. I eat pretty clean too (very little processed food, no trans fat, no HFCS, no artificial sweeteners) I try to get plenty of protein (at least 100g) per day and stick to lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, organic dairy and healthy meats (grass fed meat, non-factory farmed chicken, wild salmon etc).
  • ShellyMacchi
    ShellyMacchi Posts: 975 Member
    helpful info *S*

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ladyhawk00/view/mfp-basics-78491
  • ADJulie
    ADJulie Posts: 605 Member
    When I started I was told I could eat 2100 calories a day....that wasn't counting any exercise calories. I weighed 264 when I started. There were times that I ate around 2200 to 2300 after eating some of my exercise calories. I have dropped 42 lbs thus far. I didn't believe it would work either but it does. As I have lost weight it has dropped the amount of calories that I am allotted but like today it told me I could eat up to 2200 calories because I have my workout calories. Sometimes I eat my workout calories and sometimes I don't.
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    I've never tracked what I ate but I don't feel like 2500 calories is limiting at all. I'm eating everything I want to still. Which makes me suspicious of the claim that I'm actually going to lose any weight, despite the fact that this site seems to be working for a lot of people.
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,064 Member
    What is that you do - minus the exercise during the day to justify an active lifestyle? Active lifestyle typically means you're an athlete, mail carrier or something else where you are running and walking all day with little time to rest. You wouldn't count that as exercise then - those calories have already been accounted for. The way I look at it, if you're a stay at home mom, nurse or waitress, you're at a moderate lifestyle. Then anythign you do extra (that you didn't do before trying to lose weight) is exercise - it either needs to break a sweat, elevate your heart rate to a higher level or stretch out your muscles.

    Those should be counted as extra.

    You don't want to be double counting your exercise calories or your lifestyle - that will hinder yourself. Basically what you've told MFP is that you burn ~3500 calories just to maintain your current weight. You can try it for a while.....see what happens. Feel free to friend me :)
  • tjjohnson66
    tjjohnson66 Posts: 3
    Yes -- some women can and even eat more. I had my resting metabolic rate tested at LifeTime. It is was 2048, which excludes excercise, and 2662 calories with lifestyle. On average, I burn 500-700 calories in a sixty minute work out and I use a heart rate monitor and watch that tracks it. I actually had to eat over 3000 calories to not lose weight. Although, I stopped working out for two years but I'm back. I'll post the photo of the report in a minute.

    Oh and at that time I was 42 years old, 5' 1" and weighed 113 lbs.
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,064 Member
    Yes -- some women can and even eat more. I had my resting metabolic rate tested at LifeTime. It is was 2048, which excludes excercise, and 2662 calories with lifestyle. On average, I burn 500-700 calories in a sixty minute work out and I use a heart rate monitor and watch that tracks it. I actually had to eat over 3000 calories to not lose weight. Although, I stopped working out for two years but I'm back. I'll post the photo of the report in a minute.

    Oh and at that time I was 42 years old, 5' 1" and weighed 113 lbs.

    To lose 2lbs a week at that level, you would have had to be consuming somewhere around 1600 calories with lifestyle, which would seem about right. I'm at 1300 before exercise and I'm 240lbs, 5'7 and 31..... Which means my body burns around 2300 cals/day approximately. But she's also set to lose 2lbs a week (1000 cal deficit daily)
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    Right, right, I meant to convey that I wasn't double counting the normal everyday type of exercise. I walk to work and back everyday (4 miles with hills), am on my feet most of the day and walk the dog about an hour most nights. I'm also the only one doing all of the cleaning for a house with 3 roommates, 4 dogs and 2 cats. Thats the stuff I'm not logging. I'm logging gym trips, curling league, and any other purposeful exercise.

    I feel that qualifies me for active? Or maybe I should bring it back down to moderately active?


    What is that you do - minus the exercise during the day to justify an active lifestyle? Active lifestyle typically means you're an athlete, mail carrier or something else where you are running and walking all day with little time to rest. You wouldn't count that as exercise then - those calories have already been accounted for. The way I look at it, if you're a stay at home mom, nurse or waitress, you're at a moderate lifestyle. Then anythign you do extra (that you didn't do before trying to lose weight) is exercise - it either needs to break a sweat, elevate your heart rate to a higher level or stretch out your muscles.

    Those should be counted as extra.

    You don't want to be double counting your exercise calories or your lifestyle - that will hinder yourself. Basically what you've told MFP is that you burn ~3500 calories just to maintain your current weight. You can try it for a while.....see what happens. Feel free to friend me :)
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    Ah HA! I need a heartrate monitor... Thanks!

    Yes -- some women can and even eat more. I had my resting metabolic rate tested at LifeTime. It is was 2048, which excludes excercise, and 2662 calories with lifestyle. On average, I burn 500-700 calories in a sixty minute work out and I use a heart rate monitor and watch that tracks it. I actually had to eat over 3000 calories to not lose weight. Although, I stopped working out for two years but I'm back. I'll post the photo of the report in a minute.

    Oh and at that time I was 42 years old, 5' 1" and weighed 113 lbs.
  • significance
    significance Posts: 436 Member
    That sounds like moderately active to me. If you're not sure, you can check by setting the rate at "sedentary" and adding as exercise everything you do in a typical day. That ought to give you the same calorie allowance as setting the rate to whatever it should be and logging only the "extra" exercise.
  • NatalieWinning
    NatalieWinning Posts: 999 Member
    That sounds like moderately active to me. If you're not sure, you can check by setting the rate at "sedentary" and adding as exercise everything you do in a typical day. That ought to give you the same calorie allowance as setting the rate to whatever it should be and logging only the "extra" exercise.

    There you go, that would prove it for the most part and put your mind at ease.
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,064 Member
    That sounds like moderately active to me. If you're not sure, you can check by setting the rate at "sedentary" and adding as exercise everything you do in a typical day. That ought to give you the same calorie allowance as setting the rate to whatever it should be and logging only the "extra" exercise.

    On your feet all day (but not necessarily walking most of that 8 hours), I'd be setting to lightly active (same as a nurse would be). It's double counting if you include the same activities in your lifestyle (walking the dog, walking to work, etc.) as you do in your exercise. I'd put to lightly active/moderately active, and then include all the walking you do too as exercise (because it will vary day to day in most cases and it's not prolonged (most of your day) activities. Agree with above. That's the most reasonable way to do it :)

    Good luck and remember, just see where you are in 2 weeks. If it's not working, you can always modify it.
  • EricInArlington
    EricInArlington Posts: 531 Member
    I have 2300 a day, If I go and play golf walking 18 holes I will have 4500 for the day. Just keep in mind just eat at least 1200 and your all good
  • dino1147
    dino1147 Posts: 178 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    There are several "must reads" at the beginning of the general diet and weight loss forum.
  • Mustangsally1000
    Mustangsally1000 Posts: 854 Member
    I just joined as well, but when I put in all my info, it gave me a goal of 1200 calories per/day. My my "new leaf" program
    gives me a bit over 1600 calories. They guy in charge of the new leaf program here said 1200 isn't enough, and to go with what
    new leaf said. Having said that, if you have a good work out and burn off some calories, those get added into your daily requirement. I thought 1600 sounded like a lot, so I'm thinking 2500 sounds like way too many! Did you recalculate?
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
    If you were eating 4000 calories before, then YEAH 2500 calories is dieting. And just think of it this way... if you work out and burn 500 calories, you jus used up 500 calories you ate so it's like you didn't eat them at all. Your body uses fuel when you work out so if you use the fuel you already put in your body, obviously you need to fill up again!

    Also, 1500 calories sounds like an awful lot to be burning. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, you should get one, because it's the most accurate way to tell how much you're burning - you could be overestimating.
  • tanniew78
    tanniew78 Posts: 602 Member
    I've never tracked what I ate but I don't feel like 2500 calories is limiting at all. I'm eating everything I want to still. Which makes me suspicious of the claim that I'm actually going to lose any weight, despite the fact that this site seems to be working for a lot of people.

    While this is true to some extent, you wont lose if you eat 2500 calories worth of McDs or any other convenience food product. I have been losing massive amounts of weight by eating healthy foods. Most of my calories come from vegetables and some fruits. I feel like I am eating all day. Recently I have added nuts as a snack one or two times a day. Almost ALL of my foods are homemade. And I eat between 1800 and 2800 cals. Depending on the day. If I dont eat the nuts, its around 1300-1400 a day.

    And I am losing like a fiend! I love it. Im not deprived. I can still have some chocolate and whatnot... Just have to account for it and try to eat clean the rest of the day....

    ETA: I rarely eat back the exercise cals. I cant even eat my recommended amount very often.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I am a guy and weigh 165lbs. I lost weight averaging 2800cals gross just last week. Office worker/gym junkie :P
  • tjjohnson66
    tjjohnson66 Posts: 3
    good point one person had said that it is the quality of your calories. the tools on the website are estimates.BMI is also another estimate. 2 truly get an accurate number is to have your resting metabolic rate tested, then you can have results added to your watch the tracks from your heart rate montior. measure your body fat, body fat is the true indicator of being in shape. the more muscle you have the more calories you burn even if you are not working out.

    sorry I'm wordy....just excited to be back. i was a work ot freak for many years and used trainers etc to learn alot of this.

    good luck all :)
  • 123456654321
    123456654321 Posts: 1,311 Member
    My hubby started out at 316. He had me start this plan for him because it worked so well for me. His daily calorie goal started off at 2300 (sedentary) - seems high right? but the pounds started falling off of him. He has gradually went down to 2100 as his weight has gone down too. He is right now 247 and still dropping about 2 pounds a week.

    I highly recommend for people to listen to the guidelines here first and then make adjustments from there if it's not working later. The guidelines are there for a reason and they are generally a good thing to follow, at least until you get into the swing of things yourself.
  • 123456654321
    123456654321 Posts: 1,311 Member
    Oh, and I do think you sound more moderately active then active. Try that out and see what you think.
  • gailygail99
    gailygail99 Posts: 582 Member
    When I started I had also put in sedentary as I did not exercise at all and have a desk job. I put in that I wanted to lose 2lbs a week and it told me 1770 calories should be my goal. That seemed like a lot to me though. I kept it like that for a couple of weeks and then started to decrease it by 50 calories a week. I did that until it got down to 1500 calories and then I just stayed there, as I did not want to decrease it anymore. I have been on MFP for about 55 days and have lost 30lbs so far. The last 3-4 weeks I did start to exercise though. Just a little a day and normally just earn back between 115-200 calories a day from cardio and I do lift weights, but dont log any calories lost for that. So it now tells me that I can have approx 1600-1700 calories a day. I still dont eat them all though. I usually average around 1300-1400 and then if you subtract the exercise, I am around 1200 calories a day. I am assuming that once I lose enough weight where I should be eating actually less than 1500 calories, it will alert me, and asking me if I want to change my goals. At least I hope so! Do you think that it will? I still keep my lifestyle as sedentary as that is true. I do not use a heart monitor when I am on the treadmill, so I hope that my calories lost is close to being accurate. I would love any feedback/advice for my situation, as I have many pounds to go! Thanks :smile:
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    You need to update your profile/goals as you lose weight. It will be different for different people but I would say every 10lbs or so would work well.
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    Alright, thanks guys! I'll switch it back to just active then, that seems to be the consensus. For the record though, I did try setting it at sedentary and putting in everything I normally do (walking the dog, walking to work, 30 min light cleaning) plus a gym visit to check: 3400 calories! On a day where I also had curling it would be telling me to eat 4120 calories. Absurd. There is just no way that can be right, I would literally have to make a conscious effort eat that many calories in a day. I'll go with active and just log the gym and see where that gets me. Re-evaluating every 10 lbs seems like a good plan as well.

    I appreciate the idea of this site and like I said before its great that it seems to be working for so many people but dang it seems subjective! So dependent on what you choose to log and how you view yourself.
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    No kidding! I always assumed it would be the other way around, more muscle making things easier to do and thus less calories being burned. Thats good to know, thanks.


    ....the more muscle you have the more calories you burn even if you are not working out....
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    Awesome! Very helpful, thanks!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    There are several "must reads" at the beginning of the general diet and weight loss forum.
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
    They gave me something like 1700 when I first started as I put my "recommendation" in at 1 lb per week - as recommended by them.

    I did not lose any weight. So I went back and restructured it to 1.5 lbs per week and I'm on a 1350 a day diet and that is what works for me to lose weight.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories