How many calories should I eat?

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saram1381
saram1381 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I work out 6-7 days a week for 45-60+ minutes (2 hours both saturday & sunday)

My base calorie that myfitnesspal suggests is about 1450 and I put in lose 2 lbs a week. I want to lose about 40 lbs, should I really be eating 1450 calories, or should I be closer to the 1200-1300 range?

Thanks!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    You should eat 1,450, log your exercise, and then eat back at least a portion of the calorie burnt through exercise.

    Why would you think you should eat *less* than what MFP recommends?
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    if you plug your activity level into mfp as well as your other stats then the calories it gives you should be accurate. intentional exercise will give you extra calories as well. So, if you have a desk job and sit most of the day, you would choose sedentary and that will give you your base calories. then you log your exercise into mfp as well as your food.

    be careful eating back the exercise calories though as mfp tends to overestimate. you can start by eating back about half and see if you're losing at the rate mfp predicted.

    i would be careful about further reducing your calories beyond what you've been given though. 2 lbs a week is an aggressive goal and you do need calories to fuel your body, especially with a rigorous exercise schedule.
  • pontious11349
    pontious11349 Posts: 105 Member
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    Omultiply your body weight in lbs by 14 and that's your maintenance calorie allowance. Reduce this number by 500 per day and you will lose 1lb a week before exercise.

    Also - you can calm down on the exercise. Diet is absolutely key to weight loss
  • Arizona_C
    Arizona_C Posts: 1,476 Member
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    I don't agree with above post.

    I'd say keep your work out up! It's great to get in shape and will assure you're losing fat, not muscles. If you are hungry or feeble, eat more.

    What work best for me is to do lots of sport and eat enough food to fuel the work outs.
  • saram1381
    saram1381 Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks all! I was really curious about what I should put as my activity level, I agree that exercise is nothing without diet. I just want to be very careful!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    saram1381 wrote: »
    Thanks all! I was really curious about what I should put as my activity level, I agree that exercise is nothing without diet. I just want to be very careful!

    Your activity level is based on what you do *without exercise*. MFP has you log your intentional exercise and you then eat at least some of those calories back. Your calorie goal will put you in a deficit even before any exercise is done.
  • saram1381
    saram1381 Posts: 4 Member
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    How about everyone's opinion on this - should you really eat back the calories you burn when working out? For example, today I've eaten 1300 calories (when I recalculated MFP calories, they suggest I eat 1320) and according to my apple watch I burned about 800 calories in my 2 hours at the gym tonight. I don't personally agree that I should eat 800 calories, but am I hurting my potential weight loss by not eating any back?

    Thanks all for your help!
  • Dano74
    Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
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    Eating back calories is overcomplicates things, IMO. I know it's gospel and works for a lot of folks here but it's just too much to think about. Just come to a caloric goal using your activity level and stick to it, adjusting as necessary.

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