Something I'm still struggling with (more MFP related I guess) is exactly how many calories I should be eating and how it relates to how much I'm exercising. I am constantly playing around with my "goals" on MFP...level of activity/how many lbs I want to lose/calorie intake etc. Then, when I enter that I'm "lightly active" (I mean, my job involves being on my feet all day working w small children, and I work out a few x/week now, but am I really "ACTIVE" compared to a true fitness junkie??), MFP automatically tells me I should be eating 1,200 calories a day as a goal. To be honest, this # is pretty daunting to me, and the days I've actually managed to pull this off or even <1200 have been a big challenge. Then I feel stressed when I go over, and then I keep finagling my goals so that I can eat 1400+. But now I'm calling myself ACTIVE instead of lightly active. This is where I get lost. Am I active or lightly?? And in terms of, OK, I feel like my diet is getting more well balanced, more veggies, slow burning carbs, etc, I still seem to be eating too much since I usually just CANT get by w the 1200 calories mark.

And if MFP is just based on calories and exercise (w some nutrient recommendations, I know), then what if someone has a day of eating 1200 calories worth of candy and chips, but hey, they didn't go over their caloric intake limit so it's ok?? I know that's not *really* ok in terms of balanced health and diet, but I think the calorie count is just throwing me.

Sorry that was so long these are more just big things that are tricky for me still.

Hi Justin--
I would like to hear more about what and how much to eat before and after different kinds of workouts. Both to learn about how to eat to optimize the workout and then how to eat afterward to prevent hunger throughout the Rest of the day---assuming workout is in the morning that is.