How many calories?

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mb071
mb071 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I just recently started using MFP again and am confused. In my profile it says my daily calorie goal is around 1800 but my calories burned from daily activity is over 2300. I exercise typically 4-5 days a week so should I be eatting closer to the 2300 or the 1800 if I am exercising? I am not losing any weight and am think I am just not eatting enough which sounds so crazy. I know the post says eatting more = more weight lost but what does the "more" exactly mean?? Any help is greatly appreciated! :)

Replies

  • mommyoftwins05
    mommyoftwins05 Posts: 645 Member
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    you should be eating the 1800 if I understand it right
  • CaptainAmerica1970
    CaptainAmerica1970 Posts: 435
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    bump
  • tarakc20
    tarakc20 Posts: 8
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    The way I understood it is that you get to add the calories you burn off with exercising to your daily goal. That is why at the bottom of your food log it says, "You've earned an extra ___ calories from exercise today." You don't necessarily have to eat ALL those calories...but you may just be right in thinking that you are not eating enough. If your body thinks it is starving, it holds on to whatever fat it has, making it hard to lose weight.
  • sun33082
    sun33082 Posts: 416 Member
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    It all depends on how many pounds a week you want to lose. It takes 3500 excess calories burned to lose 1 pound. If you did not exercise and you ate 1800 calories/day, your daily excess calories burned would be 500. Therefore you would lose 1 pound per week. IF you're exercising, then you need to log that exercise and then see what your excess calories are. If it's too high, then you may go into starvation mode. If it's too low, you won't lose because you're not burning enough excess calories.

    Also make sure you are being COMPLETELY honest in your food diary. Don't guess at all the measurements, try to measure as much as you can. And watch the sodium. I'm on maintenance right now and I'm under my max allowed calories every day, but I am not losing because my sodium is out of control so I have lots of water retention.

    Just remember it's not all about calories and it's not all about the scale :) It will come off if you keep trying and keep mixing things up.
  • lmarshel
    lmarshel Posts: 674 Member
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    Here's how the equation works. MFP takes your weight, height, whether you're male or female, your age, your regular activity level and factors that into an equation to come up with the amount of calories you need to be consuming every day to maintain your current weight. From there, it deducts the amount of calories necessary to let you meet your goal. For 1 pound per week, it's 500 calories. That's the 3500 calories sun mentioned divided by 7 days in a week. So for .5 pounds per week, it would be 250. And for 2 pounds per week it's 1000.

    That's how many calories you need to NET every day. You can eat less or burn more, but the NET is what counts. So as you exercise and log it, MFP adds those calories back to your total. Whatever MFP says you have left, that's what you should be eating. If you consume less, you should lose more weight. If you go over, you won't lose as much weight.

    If MFP gives you 1800 per day and you gain 400 from exercise, you should be eating 2200 calories per day.

    Hope that helps. :) Best of luck to you!
  • theprettyone1010
    theprettyone1010 Posts: 408 Member
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    This could be a couple of things. You could be gaining muscle as you burn fat, which would explain why the scale hasn't made any changes. Pay attention to inches not pounds (i.e, how many inches your waist, arms, hips, thighs, etc. is) !

    Or you might not be burning as many calories as you think you are. If you're not using a HRM to track your calories burned, I suggest getting one.

    I strongly, strongly doubt that your body is in starvation mode if you're eating 1800 calories a day.

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