Daily caloric allowance

Good morning people! I have been back at myfitnesspal for a few weeks now after a long time away. I have a question for anyone able to answer it.
Myfitnesspal says my daily caloric allowance is 1780. I have been trying to come close to that with a goal of losing 2lbs a week. I have lost 10lbs or 5 lbs a week.
Will I lose 2lbs a week just sticking to that 1780 calories a day?
Also....there are times with my exercise that I have considerably more calories left to use up. Do I need to use them so that I wont lose more than 2lbs a week?
Thanks for your help!

Replies

  • mylittlerainbow
    mylittlerainbow Posts: 822 Member
    If you set MFP for losing 2 pounds per week, then it should have factored in your current statistics and created a sufficient deficit in calories so that 1780 IS the pace for losing 2 pounds per week.

    Many don't eat back their exercise calories (or eat back only half of them), because depending on where you get them from, exercise calories burned are often overstated and food calories eaten might be estimated more than they should be, so this gives you a cushion. But if everything is measured accurately, eating back all of your exercise calories will still leave you at the pace that you set on MFP - i.e., to lose 2 pounds per week. Good luck!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Whilst this ^^^ is true

    If you are losing 5lbs a week over a few weeks (eg not just the first 2 or 3 where water weight can make a huge difference, but ongoing into 6 - 8 weeks) then you need to significantly increase your food intake
  • johnhenry883
    johnhenry883 Posts: 11 Member
    Thank you for your reply....So would it be a safe bet that if I want to lose 2lbs a week that maybe leaving 500 exercise calories earned each day on the table would be about right?
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
    Thank you for your reply....So would it be a safe bet that if I want to lose 2lbs a week that maybe leaving 500 exercise calories earned each day on the table would be about right?

    That depends on what your total exercise calories are. If that is roughly half your exercise calories, then yes, in theory that should work out.

  • johnhenry883
    johnhenry883 Posts: 11 Member
    Thank you to everyone for your help!
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Set goal to 1lb/week. 2 lbs is too aggressive. Also only log 1/2 of your exercise calories, to get a more realistic calorie goal.