Meeting my calorie goal?

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alexandrialsullivan
alexandrialsullivan Posts: 2
edited January 2015 in Food and Nutrition
I'm relatively new to MFP, and I have a few questions about the calorie counter.
I've input all my information (goal weight, current weight, height, etc...) and it's given me a daily calorie intake amount: 2200 calories.

In order to lose weight, am I required to eat this amount of calories every day?

If I add exercise, my calorie balance changes, do I have to eat and make up the different to get to 0?

Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • jjsilcox96
    jjsilcox96 Posts: 63 Member
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    You zhould eat all the 2200 amd they say eat half of your exercise. Cals because they over estimate
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    edited January 2015
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    MFP allows you to set a loss goal between -0.5 and -2.0 lbs/week. Weight loss faster than that is typically considered unsafe and unsustainable. So, set as aggressive a goal as you like, but then do strive to eat roughly as much as it recommends for best results!

    (If you have weight to lose, that means you've historically eaten more than that on a daily basis, so eating as much as it recommends shouldn't be a challenge.)

    With respect to exercise, eat those calories back, but be cautious. A certain amount of daily activity is expected for any activity level beyond 'sedentary'. You don't want to give yourself credit twice (one for your activity level, and twice for the actual exercise.) Also, there's a common tendency to overestimate the duration, intensity, and burn of exercise.
  • kgarabito
    kgarabito Posts: 9 Member
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    once you start logging in accurately, you'll see that you won't even get to that 2200 that they give which is actually. good thing because the basics to losing weight is burning more calories than what you eat. So keep consistent homie, DONT QUIT !
  • sweetdixie92
    sweetdixie92 Posts: 655 Member
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    To lose weight you should eat no more than that (not counting exercise). If you exercise, you can eat some more calories, but I would undercut it. Like if you burn 600 calories, then maybe up your total calorie intake to 2500 for the day (added 300 from exercise cals).

    Honestly, I rarely try to eat back my exercise calories, unless I'm particularly hungry that day.
  • hamoncan
    hamoncan Posts: 148 Member
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    2000-2200 cals is quite a bit - very unlikely you'd need to add back exercise calories - 2200 would very roughly be the cals for someone 225+ lbs losing at a rate of 1 lb per week using a rough 12 calories per lb of body weight estimate (225x12=2700 minus 500 cal deficit to lose 1 lb per week=2200 cal goal) - again very rough numbers
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    How much did you tell the calculator you wanted to lose per week? I don't know your stats, but 2200 calories is definitely higher than the average female...that's a little less than what I eat (gross, including exercise) to lose about 1 Lb per week.

    Did you input everything correctly? I'd double check that first. Also, what are your stats?
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    Well, yeah... if you put down your information correctly and it gave you 2200, then that's what you're supposed to eat. It's all about how tall you are, how much you have to lose, how much you want to lose per week, and your daily activity. MFP gives you the amount of calories to eat without including exercise. So when you do exercise, eat about 50-75% of those calories back. So say if you do some exercise and you burn 200 calories, eat about 100-150 calories more for the day. Don't be afraid of the numbers: you want to succeed and you don't want to starve, or else you'll want to give up.

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  • crashchamp
    crashchamp Posts: 147 Member
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    I always eat what it recommends without including exercise. On exercise days I let hunger dictate if I eat back any of those, but I never eat back more than half of my exercise calories. I have lost around 50lbs in around 5 and half months following that plan
  • alexandrialsullivan
    alexandrialsullivan Posts: 2
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    How much did you tell the calculator you wanted to lose per week? I don't know your stats, but 2200 calories is definitely higher than the average female...that's a little less than what I eat (gross, including exercise) to lose about 1 Lb per week.

    Did you input everything correctly? I'd double check that first. Also, what are your stats?

    I input a 2 lbs a week loss. I went in and manually changed it to 1900, 2200 seemed too high to me.

    My cw is 260 and gw is 160. 2lbs a week would get me there in just over a year.
  • hamoncan
    hamoncan Posts: 148 Member
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    alexandrialsullivan wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    How much did you tell the calculator you wanted to lose per week? I don't know your stats, but 2200 calories is definitely higher than the average female...that's a little less than what I eat (gross, including exercise) to lose about 1 Lb per week.

    Did you input everything correctly? I'd double check that first. Also, what are your stats?

    I input a 2 lbs a week loss. I went in and manually changed it to 1900, 2200 seemed too high to me.

    My cw is 260 and gw is 160. 2lbs a week would get me there in just over a year.

    2200 would be about right then, more power to you if you can get by with a bit less - you should see some pretty good losses in the first few months - good luck!
  • BodyByButter
    BodyByButter Posts: 563 Member
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    It seems high to me too, I'm at 294 and set to 1 lb a week loss, and it gives me 1700. Maybe your activity level is set high?

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