Weight Loss Newbie - Needs to figure out calories

First I would suggest you calculate your TDEE - total daily energy expenditure, and then subtract 500-1000(max) from this, you will probably find that is higher than 1200kcal.

Calories do in fact average out, but it is not a good idea to only eat 600 for a day to compensate for over eating, it is more sustainable to make small adjustments for example if you over ate one day by 700kcal, then burning an extra 100kcal for 7 days. Bearing this in mind however, If you exceed your limit you will still likely be at a calorie deficit - in which case accept it & forget about it, start the next day as you mean to finish, you will have days where you 'over eat' and this is perfectly normal. Try not to punish yourself for eating by restricting yourself afterwards.

If you like I could work out your approximate TDEE or you can use an online calculator such as http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

Need any clarification on that please let me know & others will be along with great advice I'm sure, good luck.

BTW your calorie requirements for your weight loss will depend on your current stats, and your final goal. A solid weight loss plan will consider;
* Your final goal
* An approximate deadline
* Meal planning
* An understanding of adjustments you may need to make
* Accepting the possibility of mistakes & having an allowance for this in your overall plan (time frame)
* A plan for how to return to eating maintenance.


Please try to bear in mind that higher rates of weight loss (2lbs per week) do not suit everyone & usually for those who are relatively close to their goals (10-30lbs to lose) then 0.5lbs-1lbs loss per week is more viable. 1200kcal is the average amount of calories needed by a body to survive while being completely sedentary (think comatose) and does not account for the energy you use to walk, talk, think, work & workout.

HI Paulette. There's a lot to cover here, so I'm going to try and hit most of your questions. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the posts that are stuck to the top of the boards (especially those on top of the Getting Started board) since those have a lot of great information.

skinnypaulette wrote: »

- My current daily calorie intake goal is 1200. But what happens if exceed my limit? Let say if one day I eat 1800 calories can I make up for it by only eating 600 calories the next day? Does that work?

I'm going to toss some terms and ideas out here and hope that I'm being clear. Go ahead and ask questions here if you're not understanding something and hopefully someone can give you a better explanation.

There's something called your TDEE, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is how many calories your body uses throughout the day, including doing things that it needs to do just to keep you alive. Eating anything below this number should allow you to lose weight, just maybe not at the same rate that you expected. This number is different for everyone, but you can google an online calculator to get a rough estimate of yours if you're curious.

So, to lose 1 pound per week you need to eat 500 calories below your current TDEE every day. To lose 2 pounds per week you'd want to eat 1000 calories fewer than your TDEE. MFP has done all of this math for you when it set your goal to 1200 calories, but it's important to know because of this: if your TDEE is, say, 1700 calories, then eating 600 calories above 1200 would cause you to gain a tiny amount of weight. If your TDEE is 2200 calories then eating 600 calories above 1200 would still allow you to lose weight, just at a slower pace than your current goal.

Does that make sense?

You can make up for the overage the next day (although I'm careful about not setting up an overeating/punishment cycle, myself) or you can average it out over the week or you can ignore it and just lose a little less weight that week. It's really up to you how you want to handle your calories.

- What about working out? If I do a 600 calorie workout does it mean that on my day of working out I can eat up to 1800 calories? Does it have to be same day? Or does it average out, if I work out regularly every week?

MFP is set up to give you a calorie goal without taking your workouts into account. It takes all of your information and sets up a calorie goal for you, but it basically doesn't trust you to work out until you actually log it. It increases your calories for the day after you log exercise because you've earned them, and because it's important to eat to fuel your lifestyle if you're more active.

Again, it doesn't have to be the same day. You can eat them the next day, the day before, or average them out over the week.

I'm going to add two caveats here. One, a lot of people look up their TDEE as I explained above and set a calorie goal based on that. If you choose to do that and you include your exercise in that calculation then you don't earn any extra calories after exercise because they're already built in.

And two, some gym machines tend to overestimate calories burned during certain activities and MFP may do the same. MFP's estimates were always pretty good for me, but if you see your loss slow down or aren't losing anymore then it might be something to double-check.
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Now for some of those useful links I mentioned:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

diannethegeek wrote: »

And I see that I'm the slowest typist on the boards again! :drinker:

You need to pick it up, really

diannethegeek wrote: »

And I see that I'm the slowest typist on the boards again! :drinker:

To be fair, you typed more, so it wasn't a fair comparison.

heybales wrote: »

skinnypaulette wrote: »

Hello guys & gals!

I'm a weight loss newbie, this is the first time -ever- when I attempt to shed a few pounds. So I'm brand new to all this and there are lots of things that I need to understand in order to be as successful as I can. Pardon me if some of these questions may seem silly, but truly I don't understand how this whole thing works yet.

- My current daily calorie intake goal is 1200. But what happens if exceed my limit? Let say if one day I eat 1800 calories can I make up for it by only eating 600 calories the next day? Does that work?

- What about working out? If I do a 600 calorie workout does it mean that on my day of working out I can eat up to 1800 calories? Does it have to be same day? Or does it average out, if I work out regularly every week?


Sorry as I type these, I realize how silly they must sound. But as a total newbie, this really is brand new information.


Thanks a bunch!
Looking forward to hearing from you!

- Paulette

Only a few pounds to lose.

Did you select 2 lbs weekly?

Which is unreasonable if by few you mean 10 or less.

Reasonable would be 250 deficit or 1/2 lb weekly. You gained it slow, wisely choose to lose it slowly.

And the resulting eating goal is on non-workout days, because that's how MFP works.
When you workout you burn more, take 250 off the totaly daily burn again - you eat more obviously.

But be honest with exercise time and activity.

It is not unreasonable, it is just harder to achieve without dropping below the recommended minimum calories. Achieving it usually requires additional exercise, unless the person is tall.

dbl post

TimothyFish wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

skinnypaulette wrote: »

Hello guys & gals!

I'm a weight loss newbie, this is the first time -ever- when I attempt to shed a few pounds. So I'm brand new to all this and there are lots of things that I need to understand in order to be as successful as I can. Pardon me if some of these questions may seem silly, but truly I don't understand how this whole thing works yet.

- My current daily calorie intake goal is 1200. But what happens if exceed my limit? Let say if one day I eat 1800 calories can I make up for it by only eating 600 calories the next day? Does that work?

- What about working out? If I do a 600 calorie workout does it mean that on my day of working out I can eat up to 1800 calories? Does it have to be same day? Or does it average out, if I work out regularly every week?


Sorry as I type these, I realize how silly they must sound. But as a total newbie, this really is brand new information.


Thanks a bunch!
Looking forward to hearing from you!

- Paulette

Only a few pounds to lose.

Did you select 2 lbs weekly?

Which is unreasonable if by few you mean 10 or less.

Reasonable would be 250 deficit or 1/2 lb weekly. You gained it slow, wisely choose to lose it slowly.

And the resulting eating goal is on non-workout days, because that's how MFP works.
When you workout you burn more, take 250 off the totaly daily burn again - you eat more obviously.

But be honest with exercise time and activity.

It is not unreasonable, it is just harder to achieve without dropping below the recommended minimum calories. Achieving it usually requires additional exercise, unless the person is tall.

If there is 4-5 lbs yes, meaning it takes 2 weeks of extreme watchfulness to keep that deficit, ya, not bad, probably can be done.

But see how many with only 10 lbs to lose manage to lose the fight trying to go too big, and are stuck with 4-5 to go for a long time. Then they eat even less and exercise even more and obtain nothing for weight loss.
It's really interesting how fast the body gets stressed out the less fat you have to lose, and how much worse that big deficit is.