Calories on rest days

If you put your calories burnt in MFP, it will give you a net result. On your off days, you won't have that offset. My advice is to not starve yourself so that you don't feel the urge to binge. 1400 or 1200 are close, and a very modest intake, so do what you can stay consistent, without being too uncomfortable. Best of luck!

Daydreamangel wrote: »

I actually eat under what MFP gives me, because I gained weight from eating the amount they give me.

If you were gaining on the goal given to you then you were eating more than you think.

What are your stats? How do you measure your calorie intake?

TavistockToad wrote: »

Daydreamangel wrote: »

I weigh my food on a food scale.

5'6 137.6 pounds

And you gain weight on 1400 cals? Very doubtful

Unless it is water, or she is constipated. Or building muscle.

What works for me:
At 63, 3 years ago, it took me the better part of a year to figure out how to lose 30 lbs. I started by cutting back, and scale watching. I upped my exercise, then bought a scale that gave me weight body fat, skeletal, calorie needs. Still no loss. Must be portion control - started mfp. I used their suggested calories and added in extras when I exercised. I weighed food to stay honest. Still nothing. I then cut added exercise calories in half and dropped basic intake by 200 to 300. During all this time I might have lost 10 lbs. Finally, I dropped mfp calories to 1,000, added in 1/2 exercise calories and 1/4 for gardening calories (I can garden for hours). Took me 6-9 more months, but I got there.

Once at weight, I watch what I eat and use my scale every AM before breakfast and exercise 4 times a week (which I need for significant osteoarthritis). Now, because of the holidays, I need to lose about 10 lbs before a 3 week cruise - I'm back on mfp.

By nature, I'm very analytical and can be extremely detail oriented. What I learned:
-My scale tells me I need 1350 to 1400 calories to maintain weight. Since I seem to maintain weight at about 1400 calories it appears relatively accurate. While absolute fat and skeletal are way off (dr told my my current fat is about 25% - scale says 34%) up or down trends are helpful.
-At my age what mfp thinks I need to lose weight is just way to high. I have always used a Polar watch (now an A370) to count exercise calories. Those are always too high as well. I send info from my Polar to mfp. The other day I had 2 aerobics classes for a total of 600 calories, mfp added another 700. I adjust to 1000 calories as my base. I now subtract the mfp added calories and cut the exercise calories by 50%.
- In 2 weeks I've lost 3lbs, fat% has gone down, skeletal up. It will take me another several weeks to get me where I need to go.
- I'm 5'6", headed toward 135lbs. Dr says while I'll be slightly underweight, I'm healthy. Resting heart rate is mid 50's.

Daydreamangel wrote: »

I thought I had my setting on lightly active, which would include exercise in the calorie amount they give you, right?

I get an adjustment to my calories from my FitBit, and in my experience lightly active really doesn’t include much activity at all. An hour-long walk on top of normal, around-the-house activity usually brings me up to the “active” level, so I’ve recently reset to that.

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