Please help??

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Alright I am new to MFP. I entered my goals and all that. I add my work outs and it does its thing with changing the calories. My problem is I feel as if something isn't right. It is telling me to eat what I think is a TON of calories. As of right now for today I have most of my food entered and I still have 1600 calories to go...Someone please help me? I feel like a total idiot.:noway:

Replies

  • getyupcowgirl
    getyupcowgirl Posts: 70 Member
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    Without seeing your diary and how much you worked out, it will be hard to tell what is wrong.
  • alhoward8
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    I can't see your diary so I can't give specifics, but I don't eat my exercise calories back unless I burn more than 500 in a day (which is rare for me). Otherwise I feel like I may as well have spent my workout time on the couch. Others disagree. :)
  • ChristinaLConway
    ChristinaLConway Posts: 115 Member
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    If you add me as a friend (and have an open diary) I can take a look for you :) Good luck this site is great but it takes a bit of practice to figure out the food/exercise thing
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    I made it public now.
  • lovelee79
    lovelee79 Posts: 362
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    I can't see your diary so I can't give specifics, but I don't eat my exercise calories back unless I burn more than 500 in a day (which is rare for me). Otherwise I feel like I may as well have spent my workout time on the couch. Others disagree. :)

    I completely agree with you !!!

    cheers! :)
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    Most of your food? :huh:
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    Sometimes I burn 600, it really just depends on what kind of workout I decide on. I wish we could take that part off of our diaries..
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
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    bump
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    Most of your food? :huh:


    Meaning I wasn't finished adding things for the day.
  • _Sonia_
    _Sonia_ Posts: 40
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    I've been eating my exercise calories back consistently since I joined MFP back in the spring. I heed the advice of those who caution against going into starvation mode. I want to have the energy to keep gaining strength as well as losing weight, so it makes perfect sense to re-fuel myself after I work out. So far, so good... 31 pounds down and counting. If eating the calories back wasn't working... I wouldn't have lost the weight!

    Maybe try to distribute your calories throughout the day a bit more evenly, so that you don't have that immense surplus at the end? Also, what are you using to track your workouts? Is it an app that tracks just the calories burned during exercise, or does it combine those calories with the "at rest" calories your body would be burning anyway?

    Anyway, I'm a big advocate of eating back the exercise calories. It seems to be working for me so far.
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
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    Your daily calorie goal before exercise is over 2300 calories. This seems pretty high unless you're very tall or have a LOT of weight to lose. Your profile only shows 35 pounds to lose, so I'm a bit confused.

    What height and current weight did you use to set up your goals? And what loss goal did you pick (1 pound per week, 2 pounds, etc.)?
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    Your daily calorie goal before exercise is over 2300 calories. This seems pretty high unless you're very tall or have a LOT of weight to lose. Your profile only shows 35 pounds to lose, so I'm a bit confused.

    What height and current weight did you use to set up your goals? And what loss goal did you pick (1 pound per week, 2 pounds, etc.)?

    I'm 5'7, and I had it at 1 lb a week.
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    Your daily calorie goal before exercise is over 2300 calories. This seems pretty high unless you're very tall or have a LOT of weight to lose. Your profile only shows 35 pounds to lose, so I'm a bit confused.

    What height and current weight did you use to set up your goals? And what loss goal did you pick (1 pound per week, 2 pounds, etc.)?

    I'm 5'7, and I had it at 1 lb a week.


    My calories before working out are 1870. That just seems high too. I know that I need to eat more with working out but...This feels impossible.
  • teagin2002
    teagin2002 Posts: 1,901 Member
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    you need to adjust your goals, if it is weight loss then select weight loss it gives you the option to loos 1 or 2 lbs a week.
    Also keep in mind for me the calories the exercise tracker over shoots the calories I burn as per my machines. so it may be doing the same for you. If you have access to exercise machines that tell you how many calories you burn I would go by them and then when you enter it in the exercise tracker enter the amount of calories burn instead of relying on the tracker to enter it for you.

    Good luck!
  • lovelee79
    lovelee79 Posts: 362
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    Your daily calorie goal before exercise is over 2300 calories. This seems pretty high unless you're very tall or have a LOT of weight to lose. Your profile only shows 35 pounds to lose, so I'm a bit confused.

    What height and current weight did you use to set up your goals? And what loss goal did you pick (1 pound per week, 2 pounds, etc.)?

    I'm 5'7, and I had it at 1 lb a week.

    I'm 5'7" and I wanted to lose 30 lbs, and I put in 1lbs a week, and it told me to eat 1200 cals!! But I bumped it up to 1400, cuz I think 1200 for ME is too low.
  • mrsbrad07
    mrsbrad07 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks a bunch guys! I changed it, and I think the problem was I had checked my average daily activity as VERY active. I moved it down one, and changed to 2 lbs a week and that seemed to help.
  • teagin2002
    teagin2002 Posts: 1,901 Member
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    it may seem too high but remember you don't want to starve your body, then you will be loosing muscle mass, hair and getting very sore and agitated. Remember this is a healthy and slow way to loose weight if you continue you will be able to loose one lb per week, tone up your body and feel amazing.
    You just need to keep it up, if after 3 or 4 weeks you haven't lost any weight check your pant size. You may have gained what ever you lost in fat in muscle mass.
    If you don't have any results at all after 3 to 4 weeks then there is something wrong and come back to us, we will help you.
    The way you are working out you will see results.

    I hope this works, good job and keep it up.
  • amberl10
    amberl10 Posts: 75 Member
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    I agree that it's really giving you too many calories. Are you sure you have on weight loss? I don't know why it would be so high. Another thing is you can manually set your goal percentages. I would recommend setting protein a little higher and fat/carbs lower. I have mine at 40% protein and 30% for carbs and fat. I think once you adjust some things it should lower your calorie intake.
  • brokebackmotors
    brokebackmotors Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks a bunch guys! I changed it, and I think the problem was I had checked my average daily activity as VERY active. I moved it down one, and changed to 2 lbs a week and that seemed to help.

    With three kids and a hubby on deployment, idaknow, maybe "very" applies for you. :) We only have two, and when my wife works late or vice versa...phew!
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
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    Thanks a bunch guys! I changed it, and I think the problem was I had checked my average daily activity as VERY active. I moved it down one, and changed to 2 lbs a week and that seemed to help.

    OK, that makes more sense. Also, remember that the daily activity level is WITHOUT exercise - what you go outside of the gym. Then you manually enter your exercise calories burned later. If you account for exercise when you set up your goals (i.e., select "very active" vs. "lightly active" due to your workouts), when you manually enter exercise later, you've entered those calories twice, and you will end up eating too much.

    Hope that wasn't too confusing! Good luck!