Hi Im new on here, needing some info

First of all it's great to see you have such a great attitude about this!!! Congratulations!!!

I too am confused about the extra calories too. However, my dietician has advised me to stay within a certain number of calories (1400 for me). So what I do, which isn't best for everyone, is I keep myself within 200 calories of my mark. I don't fret if I eat a little too much (calories that is).

The best advice I can give you is to meet with a professional. They have your best intrest at heart! This site, no matter how personal it is, is still only general! You know your body!!! Listen to it!!!

Best of luck with your health and fitness goals! I too come from a large family! It's really hard at family gatherins!!! all that yummy food!!! But be strong!!!

Check your goals and make sure you choose the appropriate setting for how active you are NOT counting your planned workouts. I chose lightly active because I'm a homemaker who spends most of my days on my feet doing housework or helping with things at church, etc. If you have a desk job you may want to choose "sedentary". Then we you DO workout, it will add those calories and you do need to be eating them to keep from going into starvation mode. There's a thread about eating your exercise calories on here. 3000 does sound a little high to me. But under Tools, check your BMR to see how many calories your body burns every day just to breathe and your heart to beat etc. That'll give you a better foundation for understanding your calorie needs.

Oh and yes you can DEFINITELY do this. I come from a family full of obesity as well and have struggled with it myself, but we get to choose how we're going to live and our bodies respond to those choices.

Check your goals and make sure you choose the appropriate setting for how active you are NOT counting your planned workouts. I chose lightly active because I'm a homemaker who spends most of my days on my feet doing housework or helping with things at church, etc. If you have a desk job you may want to choose "sedentary". Then we you DO workout, it will add those calories and you do need to be eating them to keep from going into starvation mode. There's a thread about eating your exercise calories on here. 3000 does sound a little high to me. But under Tools, check your BMR to see how many calories your body burns every day just to breathe and your heart to beat etc. That'll give you a better foundation for understanding your calorie needs.

Oh and yes you can DEFINITELY do this. I come from a family full of obesity as well and have struggled with it myself, but we get to choose how we're going to live and our bodies respond to those choices.

Check your goals and make sure you choose the appropriate setting for how active you are NOT counting your planned workouts. I chose lightly active because I'm a homemaker who spends most of my days on my feet doing housework or helping with things at church, etc. If you have a desk job you may want to choose "sedentary". Then we you DO workout, it will add those calories and you do need to be eating them to keep from going into starvation mode. There's a thread about eating your exercise calories on here. 3000 does sound a little high to me. But under Tools, check your BMR to see how many calories your body burns every day just to breathe and your heart to beat etc. That'll give you a better foundation for understanding your calorie needs.

Oh and yes you can DEFINITELY do this. I come from a family full of obesity as well and have struggled with it myself, but we get to choose how we're going to live and our bodies respond to those choices.

Whoa. Sorry for posting that a million times. Computer froze.

Hello and welcome. please check out the threads for newbies they answer alot of your questions.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

goodluck with your goals:flowerforyou:

so here's the deal baby,

There are a few things about this site you need to understand. First it's a "dumb" site, by that I mean, you give it a goal you want, and off it goes, it doesn't check to see what catagory you fit into, and it doesn't check to see if the goal you choose is right for you. So even though you are guided by MFP, you still have to be vigilant about it.

Second, with regards to your calories, yeah, 3000 sounds reasonable, you see, the bigger you are, the more calories you need to maintain. Someone weighing 370 and I'll assume somewhere north of 6' tall is going to have maintenance calories close to 4000 calories a day, which means you are eating at a 1000 calorie a day deficit (I would assume, you chose 2 lbs a week for your goal, right?).

third, as to eating exercise calories, normally I am a huge proponent of it. BUT like any good rule, there are exceptions. People with a very large body mass, and extremely high fat mass can support more then 2 lbs a week in calorie deficit. So I would say that, for now, if you don't want to eat back your exercise calories, and as long as you baseline 1800 calories NET minimum (the accepted minimum for males on average) until your BMI (see the tools section to find your BMI) is down around the 35 mark or so, you should be able to do so.

Just remember, as you lose weight, you need to adjust your goals (around every 10 or 15 lbs lost, redo your goals) or else you'll be using out of date numbers. And also when you hit that 35 BMI mark, start eating back those exercise calories again.

Remember, we're not doctors or specialists here, just a helpful, usually knowledgeable community of peers trying to become healthy!.

Best luck to you!

-Banks

Hello and welcome to MFP. You will love this site, I do. This site is great, it is so supportive, helpful, motivational, and easy to use.Everyone is really nice here too. I just wanted to tell you good luck on your weight loss journey. You can do this.:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Welcome to MFP! You have the right attitude to accomplish your goal. It's not easy, but very worth it... good luck!!!

Depending on your activity level, size, muscle mass, etc 3000 calories is not all that high. I'm almost 160 lbs less than you in weight and I do eat approx 3000 calories on my heavy workout days. Lighter and inactive days my intake is more in the 2200-2500 range and yes I am losing weight eating at those levels.

However, Banks made an great post looking at this from another direction above as well.

Overall, the answer is going to be what can work best for you.

The general consensus among the majority of members around here is yes diets do work but the problem is they are not sustainable for prolonged periods of time which is why the weight comes back once the diet stops.

Personally, I have never and likely will never go on a "diet" but that's easy for me to say as I started only wanting to lose 20 lbs or so of extra weight. The answer for me is eat healthy and balanced and exercise regulary. I think long term that is the only answer that works for pretty much everyone to continue to keep the weight off.

However, as Banks pointed out there are always exceptions; if your short terms goals lead you to work in that exception area you need to ensure you re-evalute often and listen to your body. Lastly, sooner or later you have to adjust to a sustainable lifestyle that will ensure once the weight is gone is will stay gone.

Good luck.

Edit:

Just read rseachrist501's post as well and agree on how he is working his exercise regimen. I'm not as big as you guys but I fit into the same basic category, heavily built muscle plus the extra unwanted pounds. I've been work the same type cycle, 3 days of light cardio and a full body lifting routine with 3 days of moderate cardio and have been having excellent results in removing body fat and redefining that underlying muscle.