Confused, calories?

loislane22
loislane22 Posts: 71
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,
I was just reading a few posts and realized that I am not really sure what I am doing.
I currently have my daily calories set to 1200, i am working out daily at maybe 200 calories per day. Does this mean that i can eat 1400 total calories per day or i should be only eating the 1200?
I put my projected weight loss at 1 pound per week.

Help please.
Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • meaganh13
    meaganh13 Posts: 55 Member
    You can take my comments however you will, but as "weird" as it sounds, 1200 may be too low to start. This is the BARE MINIMUM that your body needs, take any more away and you can push yourself into starvation mode. I joined MFP in late October, was 'serious' for about 3-4 weeks on 1200 calories, and gained over 6 lbs (no, not water weight, I took that into account). My belly was bulging even more, jeans were tight, and I knew that this was not working.

    I gave up around Xmas time, as it was too much for me to continue (especially if I saw the opposite results that I wanted) and given all of the festivities, I didn't want to deprive myself of everything. I still watched my portion size and vowed to myself that come January, I'd get serious again.

    This gave me a lot of time to research MFP Message Boards, etc. I quickly learnt that I was not giving my body enough calories and that it was holding on to EVERYTHING. I reset my goals, and tweaked my settings so that I'm at 1420 cal/day. Most days I'm under by about 50-100 cal, somedays I'm over by this much. If I work out on the elliptical, I burn about 300 cal and try to eat at least half of those back in healthy foods. Since mid-January, I've lost 10lbs but have gained some muscle, lost inches and have increased my endurance on the elliptical. I'm also realizing that REAL weight loss is not an "express lane" journey. It takes effort and time, more time than we'd all like, but if you shock your body, it'll turn around and shock you right back with gaining and holding onto whatever it's got.

    Hope this helps!
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
    Hello,
    I was just reading a few posts and realized that I am not really sure what I am doing.
    I currently have my daily calories set to 1200, i am working out daily at maybe 200 calories per day. Does this mean that i can eat 1400 total calories per day or i should be only eating the 1200?
    I put my projected weight loss at 1 pound per week.

    Help please.
    Thanks in advance!

    Yes, you can eat the 1400 then.

    And while I agree that increasing calories has worked for some people (like the pp mentioned), that doesn't mean that you need to increase your calories, unless what you are doing now isn't working. If it ain't broke don't fix it. :)
  • Megan0429
    Megan0429 Posts: 2 Member
    My calories are also set for 1200 calories per day, but I have it set this way because I am trying to loose a certain amount of weight by late May early June. But, i used add my work outs into my diary and see that i have more calories available after i work out. But, what I do now is only eat the 1200 calories. I found that if i seen I could eat more after working out, I would, and I wouldn't eat healthy things. So by eating only the 1200 that is recommended, its easier for me to maintain and not go over on fats, sugar, etc. Then, at night before i go to bed, I add my workouts to my diary just to keep track of what I am doing, and not my calorie intake.
  • loislane22
    loislane22 Posts: 71
    You can take my comments however you will, but as "weird" as it sounds, 1200 may be too low to start. This is the BARE MINIMUM that your body needs, take any more away and you can push yourself into starvation mode. I joined MFP in late October, was 'serious' for about 3-4 weeks on 1200 calories, and gained over 6 lbs (no, not water weight, I took that into account). My belly was bulging even more, jeans were tight, and I knew that this was not working.

    I gave up around Xmas time, as it was too much for me to continue (especially if I saw the opposite results that I wanted) and given all of the festivities, I didn't want to deprive myself of everything. I still watched my portion size and vowed to myself that come January, I'd get serious again.

    This gave me a lot of time to research MFP Message Boards, etc. I quickly learnt that I was not giving my body enough calories and that it was holding on to EVERYTHING. I reset my goals, and tweaked my settings so that I'm at 1420 cal/day. Most days I'm under by about 50-100 cal, somedays I'm over by this much. If I work out on the elliptical, I burn about 300 cal and try to eat at least half of those back in healthy foods. Since mid-January, I've lost 10lbs but have gained some muscle, lost inches and have increased my endurance on the elliptical. I'm also realizing that REAL weight loss is not an "express lane" journey. It takes effort and time, more time than we'd all like, but if you shock your body, it'll turn around and shock you right back with gaining and holding onto whatever it's got.

    Hope this helps!

    Thank you for the reply and the suggestion. I am not sure how well this is working for me yet, it is still too early to tell. I will give it a few more weeks to see what kind of results i have, and if i do notice a weight gain i will try what you suggested and eat more.
    Thank you for the reply and good luck on your journey.
  • sherbear2678
    sherbear2678 Posts: 60 Member
    eat the 1200 plus some of your workout calories if you are hungry... also, on your food settings, add sugar so it shows how much sugar you are taking in everyday - I was surprised how much stuff has sugar that I didn't even realize... good luck!!
  • loislane22
    loislane22 Posts: 71
    Hello,
    I was just reading a few posts and realized that I am not really sure what I am doing.
    I currently have my daily calories set to 1200, i am working out daily at maybe 200 calories per day. Does this mean that i can eat 1400 total calories per day or i should be only eating the 1200?
    I put my projected weight loss at 1 pound per week.

    Help please.
    Thanks in advance!


    Yes, you can eat the 1400 then.

    And while I agree that increasing calories has worked for some people (like the pp mentioned), that doesn't mean that you need to increase your calories, unless what you are doing now isn't working. If it ain't broke don't fix it. :)

    Thank you, i will stay with this for 3 more weeks and see if it takes me anywhere. I dont feel hungry all the time, i eat when i want to still, so i dont feel like im starving myself, but maybe my body thinks i am, who knows.
    thanks for the advice :)

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