HELP! I need advice.

Here's a pretty good website that has tons of weight loss related "calculators". This specific page has three methods to figure out your goal, how long it'll take to get there.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_loss.php

Here's the page for figuring out your daily calories: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

But, that said, MFP will figure all of this out for you if you correctly enter your data.

If you eat too little it is possible that your body can go into starvation mode and actually hold onto every ounce of fat...

My nutritionist told me that a good goal for weight loss is to provide your body with approximately 10 calores per pound of TARGET weight, not exceeding 20 pounds as initial target weight (so every time you lose 20, readjust your caloric intake). Calories should be balanced between food groups and consumed 5-6 times per day.. a nutritionist told me to remember to eat small, eat often and eat well.

Also cardio is great for fat burning.. its better to have a proper caloric intake and burn more calories through working out.. then to just cut back on calories..

If you are currently at 237 then you should set a 20 pound deficit goal of 217, which would but you at 2,170 calories of food consumed a day.... anything that you burn from working out, dont eat back as you will be eating enough at 2170 to keep losing weight but not dip down into starvation mode.. once you hit your goal, recalculate and go on from there!!

good luck

Based on my calculations for a 23 y/o female, 5'2" 237 lbs, your maintenance calories given an activity factor of 1.2 (accounting for office type work / daily life in general) to be about 2100.


To lose 1 lb per week you need to be eating 1600 calories per day. If you exercise, I recommend having a way by which you calculate how many calories you burned and then consume as many of those calories back as possible. Don't feel forced to eat all of them back but you should be having a few good carbs 1.5 hours before a workout (100 calories maybe) and then some good protein/carb blend immediately after. It seems that your workouts are not very intense, so stepping up the pace a little bit will help you as well.

All of the equations to determine how many calories you should be consuming are ESTIMATES. The human body is very complex and there are too many variables in play for one formula to accurately predict caloric need for every single person.

If it's a huge concern to you there are better ways to learn about your body and what it's requirements are. The cheapest and most accurate way is to buy yourself a simple pair of bodyfat calipers and have someone do a 9-point body fat skinfold test on you. Once you have a close estimate of your body fat, use the Katch McArdle method to determine caloric needs. It's more accurate than both MD Mifflin (MFP Method) and Harris Benedict (old and outdated).

If you are still not satisfied, go find someplace to have a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test performed. They usually run $100-200 bucks. This test is conducted at rest and will measure, with a degree of accuracy, your metabolism and how many calories you, as an individual burn at rest in a day.

I've blogged about this, so feel free to visit my blog and ask any questions.

It is very complex. I have no clue what to do!

As I say in the post (linked in my signature) -- just fill out your MFP settings (be honest about your activity level) and do what MFP tells you to do. It's actually quite easy as long as you are being honest with yourself.

Based on that I should be doing 1250 calories. What about excercise?

If you're eating 1250 you should be eating back your exercise calories.

Get out there and read. The internet is a powerful tool with many articles about the very topic by which you are confused.

^^ This. But again, as I say in my linked post.....if you exercise, eat back those calories. MFP already figures in your daily deficit in the caloric goal. Thus, even when you eat your exercise calories back, you are still at that deficit so you will lose weight. Just be honest with the MFP system, eat what the MFP system tells you to eat (exercise or not) and you should lose weight.