I'm new and have a question

MFP sets pretty much anyone looking to lose 2 lbs a week at 1200 calories. You can earn more calories by exercising and eating your exercise calories. So if you are set at 1200 calories and you burn 200 calories walking, you now have 200 more calories to eat. There are lots of opinions about whether or not you should eat your exercise calories. I tend not too and when I do it's usually half of them. Although I admit if I'm going out I'll work out a bit more so I have more calories available. I like to eat often and in small amounts. I try to have 300-350 calorie main meals (the regular 3) and use the rest for snacks. I eat every 3 hours or so. For me it means I don't let myself get hungry as I'm never far from my next feeding. I also try to not drink my calories. So I don't do juices and use skim milk in my coffee (I tried drinking it lack but it didn't work for me). In the end you have to figure out what works for you.

I work backwards from dinner but thats just me. I plan dinners for the week (between 500-700kcal) then decide lunch and breakfast on the day.

I tend to go to the gym everyday (but not Sunday) So that means I still have quite a few calories to play with. Some days I eat all my exercise calories, other days I don't ,and some days I go over.

As long as I average around 1200kcal-1300kcal NET over the week I'm happy and see a loss x

Looks like our posts got mixed together Cal 28... MFP has sure been weird lately.

I'm on here every day and will cheer you on! (important too)

A support network on here will help you LOTS, try and add some friends, enough to help support you and for you to support them but not so many you loose track.

(I have 35 and find it a good amount to have, many more and I wouldn't be able to give the support back to them all) x

I have one who cleans out her friends list to make room for more. She removes those who are not reciprocating with support. I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense, especially if you have asked for friends for this purpose.

Skimping on calories throughout the day so you can save 1000 for dinner is quie absurd. I am HIGHLY against it. People who do engage in that practice could be setting themselves up for failure. Not only are they starving their body all day, which will drastically reduce you metabolic rate to conserve what few calories are taken in, most people do very little after dinner. Being sedentary for a long period of time is the last thing you want, especially after a large influx of calories.
The longer one practices this way of eating, the worse off they will be. Continuous flip-flopping between starvation to gorging will wreak havoc on your metabolism and be quite taxing on your body. In the end, it's possible to end up gaining weight despite the seemingly low amount of calories consumed.

Congratulations on starting this new chapter in your life! There are so many ways that you can learn and get support on MFP to help you be successful.

MFP tailors each person's calorie program to individual needs based on your current weight, how much you want to lose and how active you are. The basic premis is that if you eat under 1200 actual calories per day you run the risk of sending your body into starvation mode (no, I can't site the research behind this but do feel it is true), so they never put you under 1200. If 1200 seems way to restictive to you, or if you are like me and it drives you CRAZY if you go over your calories, try setting your goal to the next smaller loss and then just stay under it a bit each day. Or add whatever exercise you like to do and increase your food intake.

Welcome to MFP. Add me if you would like.