I don't understand how many calories to eat, can someone hel

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Faithopeloves
Faithopeloves Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there, my tracker is telling me to eat about 1250 calories per day to lose my goal weight. The problem is, when I enter in my exercise, this number goes up. Am I supposed to eat more calories than the 1250? Or is it just telling me the deficit I created by exercising? I don't want to eat too few calories, and I defintely want to lose weight. Sometimes I get to the end of the day and have to find little things to eat to make my quota. I am confused...

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  • Faithopeloves
    Faithopeloves Posts: 26 Member
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    Hi there, my tracker is telling me to eat about 1250 calories per day to lose my goal weight. The problem is, when I enter in my exercise, this number goes up. Am I supposed to eat more calories than the 1250? Or is it just telling me the deficit I created by exercising? I don't want to eat too few calories, and I defintely want to lose weight. Sometimes I get to the end of the day and have to find little things to eat to make my quota. I am confused...
  • Lizjkp
    Lizjkp Posts: 278
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    Hi there sadams and WELCOME :flowerforyou: to MFP. I would suggest that you go to the COMMUNITY section (on the top right hand side of your screen) and look at General info for newbies
    look here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again, it will make a lot more sense to you after reading ALL the info.
    You must eat ALL the calories generated by excercise ie; more excercise = more calories to consume which if you are a big eater helps but my daughter-in-law finds it very difficult to consume all of her calories every day.
    Good luck with your journey, joining MFP has worked wonders for me, the help and encouragement from other members is invaluable :heart: .
    If you have a query just post a blog and WALLA someone is sure to respond with help or a link to somewhere you may be able to find assistance:wink:

    "Life may not be the party we hoped for :drinker: ... but while we are here we might as well dance!" :happy:
  • gnu1971
    gnu1971 Posts: 37 Member
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    Hi! Short answer = yes, eat your exercise calories. Long answer = there are a ton of posts on this topic - just go to the message board and search "eat exercise calories."

    Have a great day!
  • Fitness_Chick
    Fitness_Chick Posts: 6,648 Member
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    Hi sadams just bumped the 'eating your excercise cals' thread to the top for ya....:drinker: :bigsmile:
  • mlstephens84
    mlstephens84 Posts: 7
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    just so that everyone is aware.... i am on a doctor regulated and nutritionist controlled weight loss program and use this site in order to track the calories that i'm eating and when i asked them this question they answered with a resounding NO!!!! they told me that in order to lose weight i should be eating within my calorie range (1400 - 1500) only and working out for 30 min a day. they won't even let me put my workouts on here anymore because they don't want it screwing up my progress.
  • rebby
    rebby Posts: 11
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    That's interesting that your doctor and nutritionist suggested that, did they tell you why? Just curious.:huh:
  • watch48win
    watch48win Posts: 1,668 Member
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    just so that everyone is aware.... i am on a doctor regulated and nutritionist controlled weight loss program and use this site in order to track the calories that i'm eating and when i asked them this question they answered with a resounding NO!!!! they told me that in order to lose weight i should be eating within my calorie range (1400 - 1500) only and working out for 30 min a day. they won't even let me put my workouts on here anymore because they don't want it screwing up my progress.

    I've lost 56 lbs over the past year, and I ate my excercise calories. So have ALOT of others on this site.
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    Hi! I was just at another website looking for info. I put in all my info, including my 30 minutes of exercise each day. It came back with approx 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

    Now with MFP I put my info in and it tells me 1400 + my exercise calories. (for 1/2 pound a week)

    The difference is MFP knows you might not exercise....even when you know you should!!

    I like it better that way....when I see I have eaten 1300 cals by 5 pm, if I want dinner I better jog my butt to the park!!

    :heart: J
  • watch48win
    watch48win Posts: 1,668 Member
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    Hi! I was just at another website looking for info. I put in all my info, including my 30 minutes of exercise each day. It came back with approx 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

    Now with MFP I put my info in and it tells me 1400 + my exercise calories. (for 1/2 pound a week)

    The difference is MFP knows you might not exercise....even when you know you should!!

    I like it better that way....when I see I have eaten 1300 cals by 5 pm, if I want dinner I better jog my butt to the park!!

    :heart: J

    I hear you on that one. BTW
    love the new pic.....gonna load my Before and After pics in a bit...I found a photo from last Dec ( shocking!:embarassed: ) to one I had :embarassed: hubby take last night before his christmas party
  • cheermom11
    cheermom11 Posts: 393 Member
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    [/quote]

    I've lost 56 lbs over the past year, and I ate my excercise calories. So have ALOT of others on this site.
    [/quote]

    I've eaten all my exercise calories too - it's my only motivation to work out! :wink:

    Works like a charm for me...
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    :heart:
    Hi! I was just at another website looking for info. I put in all my info, including my 30 minutes of exercise each day. It came back with approx 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

    Now with MFP I put my info in and it tells me 1400 + my exercise calories. (for 1/2 pound a week)

    The difference is MFP knows you might not exercise....even when you know you should!!

    I like it better that way....when I see I have eaten 1300 cals by 5 pm, if I want dinner I better jog my butt to the park!!

    :heart: J

    I hear you on that one. BTW
    love the new pic.....gonna load my Before and After pics in a bit...I found a photo from last Dec ( shocking!:embarassed: ) to one I had :embarassed: hubby take last night before his christmas party

    That is how I felt with the brown shirt, birthday photo! When I found that I almost barfed!! :flowerforyou:

    Cant wait t see the new photo!!
  • watch48win
    watch48win Posts: 1,668 Member
    Options
    :heart:
    Hi! I was just at another website looking for info. I put in all my info, including my 30 minutes of exercise each day. It came back with approx 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

    Now with MFP I put my info in and it tells me 1400 + my exercise calories. (for 1/2 pound a week)

    The difference is MFP knows you might not exercise....even when you know you should!!

    I like it better that way....when I see I have eaten 1300 cals by 5 pm, if I want dinner I better jog my butt to the park!!

    :heart: J

    I uploaded photos--before and after 1 year later and also under the other post with before and after photos.....

    I hear you on that one. BTW
    love the new pic.....gonna load my Before and After pics in a bit...I found a photo from last Dec ( shocking!:embarassed: ) to one I had :embarassed: hubby take last night before his christmas party

    That is how I felt with the brown shirt, birthday photo! When I found that I almost barfed!! :flowerforyou:

    Cant wait t see the new photo!!


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/32381-my-before-and-after-1-year-photos

    link to my photos.....Eating those exercise calories.....'Nuff said about eating those exercise calories???
  • Phoenixflame
    Phoenixflame Posts: 560 Member
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    Agreed. People can talk about self motivation and striving for personal goals all they want. And hey, I even believe it.

    But still nothing motivates me to get to the gym more than when my friends want me to go to Starbucks later in the evening and that white chocolate mocha is whispering sweet nothings into my ears.

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