Newbie with alot of questions with calories..help!

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briggsl23
briggsl23 Posts: 15
in Introduce Yourself
I actually started my lifestyle change back on October 13th, and have lost 13 pounds so far. I am struggling with a couple of things, because I never ate alot of food or drunk water daily, I was just choosing all the wrong things to eat, so my struggle has been to get enough calories in a day. (of healthy foods). Since beginning to count calories, its been getting alot easier, but I still feel like Im not consuming enough. My daily calories per MFP is 1230 calories, but I burn between 680-720 calories a day at the gym..so I've heard it both ways, that I am suspose to eat those back.. so I have now started to eat atleast 500 back. I started at 205 pounds, and I am currently down to 192, and I would like to loose atleast 2 pds a week, does anyone have any suggestions on the calories?.. Also by the time I get home from working out, its about 8:30pm, and I dont know if I should be eating that late at night,..never thought it would be so hard to eat... Thanks for any suggestions ..take care :

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  • Skeith5
    Skeith5 Posts: 89 Member
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    You want to make sure you are getting at least 1200 net calories a day. Whether or not you eat more calories back above that has been up for frequent discussion. I did not eat enough calories back and was frequently in the 900-1100 calorie a range day. I didn't realize it and it was only because I wasn't calculating calories burned correctly. I stopped losing weight and have been stuck for about a month. I figured this out the past week and I've already seen changes again.

    Scott
  • Ldubb007
    Ldubb007 Posts: 77
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    Wow, that's great! You've made wonderful progress in a little over a month. Congrats! You do get credit to eat more when you work out. You should definitely add more. I think that if you aren't hungry then why eat... If you feel that you HAVE to have something I'd stick with fish or lean chicken breast and a vegetable. If you really aren't hungry then try protein shakes/meal replacement drinsk (low carb and low sugar of course). Congrats and I wish you further success!
  • amyB27
    amyB27 Posts: 105 Member
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    The exercise calories confuses me some too. But your net calories should never go below 1200 in my opinion. Those are what your body actually gets and when it goes below 1200 your body starts to shut down. My suggestion is that you make sure you eat enough of your exercise calories to make your net for the day 1200 :) Hope this helps!
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
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    Check out this unofficial MFP FAQ. They mostly likely have the answers to all your questions.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/discussion/457-unofficial-mfp-faq
  • doccwood
    doccwood Posts: 2
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    Hi briggs123! Congratulations on your success so far.

    A pound of fat has 3500 calories of energy, so to loose 2 lbs of fat a week, you need to burn 7000 more calories in a week than you take in. That means you have to burn 1000 calories a day more than you take in. Since you've lost 13 lbs in 35 days, you've been burning on average 1300 calories more than you're taking in. You could afford to eat 300 more calories a day, and you would still in theory lose 2 lbs a week.

    I would suggest eating about 150 calories of protein or vegetables when you get home that late at night.
  • MissMaggie3
    MissMaggie3 Posts: 2,464 Member
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    Welcome! I eat back almost every single one of my exercise calories every day - I love food deeply, so it has been a great incentive!. I've lost weight fairly steadily, but I've felt healthy and strong, unlike on previous regimes. I'm now on maintenance, but still logging, exercising and eating back those exercise calories. Altogether, I can usually have around 2000 a day, which is great!

    I never worried about the time of eating, so often I don't eat until after 9pm. It doesn't seem to have been a problem.
  • xorachelrose
    xorachelrose Posts: 105
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    Well I always eat back my calories after working out (not all of them, but at leasts some). You should always eat 1200 or else your both will go into starvation mode, which is NOT good. If that happens you won't lose anything at all. As for the whole eating after 8:30 thing, it all depends on when you go to bed. Your last meal/snack/whatever should be no later than 2-3 hours before you go to sleep. That way while your sleeping body is using energy already stored in your body (aka fat and other stuff) instead of using energy from the food it will be digesting from your last meal. So if you go to bed at ten then you definitely don't want to eat after 8:30. (thats where the whole 8pm myth comes from bc alot of people go to sleep 10-11 o'clock) But if your a night owl (like me) then it's no big deal. Hope that helps!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Congratulations on your weight loss so far - you are definitely doing lots of things right. But try to forget about losing "XX pounds per week." You will find that as you get closer to your goal that 1/2 pound per week is more likely. A 2 pound weight loss is a 7,000 calorie deficit, that's alot for 1 week.

    MFP is set up to have you eat your calories back because at 1200 calories NET a healthy deficit is already built in. 1200 calories NET is safe weight loss. By exercising and not eating those calories you are building a larger calorie deficit - that works fine for awhile - but then your body rebels by holding onto every last calorie (plateau).
  • amyB27
    amyB27 Posts: 105 Member
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    The exercise calories confuses me some too. But your net calories should never go below 1200 in my opinion. Those are what your body actually gets and when it goes below 1200 your body starts to shut down. My suggestion is that you make sure you eat enough of your exercise calories to make your net for the day 1200 :) Hope this helps!
    sorry didn't mean to post twice :)

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