too many calories?? Help!

calismith
calismith Posts: 8
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been doing MFP for a few weeks but not following the calories they want me to do but I want to do it right.

MFP wants me to eat 1600 calories a day and eat back all the calories I burn and I work out twice a day- how in the world am I supposed to eat that many calories and lose weight??? I feel like I would have to eat all day.....

Suggestions????

Replies

  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I feel like I would have to eat all day.....

    That's the secret of the universe.

    But seriously... Your calorie deficit is already factored in, so you will always be consuming 500 or 1000 (or whatever you entered) less than you burn. And that's why you will lose weight. Whereas, if you don't eat up, you're making your deficit larger, which will probably work for a while, if you have a bunch of weight to lose; but over time, it will slow down your metabolism and your progress.
  • Robyn1733
    Robyn1733 Posts: 58
    Maybe your settings are not correct. or don't work out as much if you aren't comfortable eating it all back.
    Would help if you opened up your dairy
  • david081
    david081 Posts: 489 Member
    Just eat what you feel happy with - I NEVER eat ALL my exercise calories, and lost 26lbs since Jan - you can relax a bit with your diet after a good burn though... whatever works well for you! Some days I burn 2000+ what do I do? Eat 4 big Macs....?
  • a_dawn
    a_dawn Posts: 47
    I don't think you have to eat back all the calories you burn, otherwise you wouldn't be losing weight. That's what you would do if you were trying to maintain your weight. Stick to eating the 1600 calories you're supposed to eat and you should lose the weight.
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    I have been doing MFP for a few weeks but not following the calories they want me to do but I want to do it right.

    If you're not following the calories MFP allots, than you're probably not doing it right in the first place. Losing weight is all science -- MFP is based on this science. If you eat the amount of calories MFP sets for you, you absolutely will lose weight.
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    I don't think you have to eat back all the calories you burn, otherwise you wouldn't be losing weight. That's what you would do if you were trying to maintain your weight. Stick to eating the 1600 calories you're supposed to eat and you should lose the weight.

    Completely untrue.
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    Double post.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I don't think you have to eat back all the calories you burn, otherwise you wouldn't be losing weight. That's what you would do if you were trying to maintain your weight. Stick to eating the 1600 calories you're supposed to eat and you should lose the weight.

    Incorrect. That's not how MFP works.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics
  • ruststar
    ruststar Posts: 489 Member
    Figure out how many calories you actually burn in a day and you'll see that what they suggest is significantly lower. This tool is pretty helpful: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced, plus there is a weight loss tool you can use after you figured out your expendiature at the same site (http://www.health-calc.com/diet/weight-loss-calculator).

    The reality is you probably should eat all day - 5-6 meals spread out throughout the day. Doing so keeps the metabolism furnace burning hot all day. Another resource I've found very helpful is fat2fit radio - a series of podcasts all about healthy eating and living. their motto is "eat like the thinner person you want to become" and that really resonates for me. This short podcast gets to the heart of your question: http://www.fat2fitpowertips.com/2011/05/power-tip-4-eat-how-much/.

    Good luck!
  • calismith
    calismith Posts: 8
    Yeah I know that's not true and that I should eat the calories I burn but that would be me eating close to 3000 calories a day.... that is a lot. What should I do?

    What are good things to eat to get my calories in?
  • AngieD84
    AngieD84 Posts: 1
    Well the thing is your body burring calories by you just being awake but once you add workouts you will burn more calories. MFP tell you to eat so many calories because your body needs it I know it is crazy how can you eat more and still lose.. The trick is to eat healthy calories not empty calories and some days you might not reach your calorie goal for the day and other days you will go over just keep with it and you will lose the weight. If you still can not understand how your body works go on websites and see the break down of calories http://caloriecount.about.com/ is a good site where you can enter your info and it will tell you how many calories to eat is you workout or not workout.

    Hope this helps... good luck!!
  • You are suppose to eat them all back. You are allotted the 1600 calories so you can loose the weight you put in to lose with out doing any exercises. The exercises burn the calories you are allotted to eat and in your case you are burning more than you are suppose to eat with out doing the exercises. So you need to at least eat back a third to half of them or you will put yourself into starvation mode and shut down you metabolism. Which in turn makes you not lose the weight.
  • monchand
    monchand Posts: 62 Member
    I only eat 1/2 my calories burn on my plan. I don't eat all the calories that I have earned. But when i was seeing an obesity doctor he told me I needed to play with the whole calorie aspect. I have been put on a caloric intake of of 1600-1800 by personal trainers, worked my butt off and won't lose weight. Frustrated and when I spoke to my doctor he told me, not everyone is "Textbook". you need to play with your calories. So some people need more, some need not as much pending each indiviual metabolism. So when he put me on 1200 calories that was the trick for "me" at first I dropped the weight like crazy but THEN, recently as I have built muscle and increase my cardiofitness and now am healthy and fit, I have fired up my metabolism and with just eating 1200 calories I hit a huge plateau, so remembering what he said and joining MFP, I added another 200 calories to my diet or 1/2 of what I burn that day, I am dropping the weight again. But I do understand that eating those extra calories is hard because I struggle eating those extra calories also.
  • SoCalSwimmerDude
    SoCalSwimmerDude Posts: 507 Member
    Its always interesting to me to hear what some of the ladies have as their caloric intake from MFP. I'm on a 2 lb per week plan, weigh 187 currently, 6ft, and 29 years old. I'm supposed to get 1360 a day. Granted, I only had about 15-20 pounds to lose in the first place and I'm almost there... But common sense tells me that the females should be on fewer calories??
  • kiwi_tobi
    kiwi_tobi Posts: 23 Member
    Hey I've been eating about 1600 Cals a day fro about a month now. It's really great and my pal is great for tracking things. I'll walk you thought a nomal day for me. When I work out and MFP says I can eat more cals i dont I jsut stick to my 1672 a day: I hope this helps you.
    Breakfast:
    Oatmeal with a little milk
    1 slice of whole grain toast
    1 tbps peanut butter

    Morning Tea
    Fruit Smoothy
    1/4c frozen berries
    1 small banana
    1/4c yoghurt
    1 kiwi fruit
    1/4c milk
    cashews and rasins about 1/4 in total

    Lunch
    whole grain wrap
    shaved chicken
    lettuce
    grated carrots
    thin strips of peppers
    1/2 tbsp mayo
    mustard
    apple

    afternoon tea (afterwork snack)
    1 slice mulitgrain toast
    1/2 tbps peanut butter
    1/2 banana

    Dinner
    250g home amde chilli with heaps of veggies in it (peppers, onions, grated cattors, grated succhini, chillis, mushrooms)
    2 cups of salad

    Snack
    strawberry Jello

    It looks like a lot of food but it's really good healthy filling stuff with small meals though out the day you're never really hungry and this is really working for me. Hope this helps.
  • monchand
    monchand Posts: 62 Member
    @kiwi_tobi
    love the way you use your veggies to fill your meals!!! I do the same, lots and lots of veggies as fillers. its amazing how it feels you up!
  • kdao
    kdao Posts: 265
    Just eat what you feel happy with - I NEVER eat ALL my exercise calories, and lost 26lbs since Jan - you can relax a bit with your diet after a good burn though... whatever works well for you! Some days I burn 2000+ what do I do? Eat 4 big Macs....?

    Agreed!
  • kiwi_tobi
    kiwi_tobi Posts: 23 Member
    @ monchand
    I totally agree! It's a great and healthy way to feel full. It's amazing how much better you feel when you're eating foods that are good for you.
  • mallorybriann
    mallorybriann Posts: 1,380 Member
    You are not really eating 3000 calories a day because you "took away" those calories by exercising.
    If you eat 1600 calories, then burn 1000, your body ONLy gets 600 calories.
    These may help
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories
    or
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/167971-eating-exercise-calories?hl=eat+exercise+calories#posts-2234524
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