New to this site and to Calorie Counting

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luvmytwins02
luvmytwins02 Posts: 71
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a few questions. I am a stay-at-home mom, who had twin girls 51/2 years ago. I have never needed to go on a diet, as I have always been thin....until I became a stay-at-home-mom. I seemed to snack a lot more and not on healthy foods! Well, over the last 5 years I have slowly gained about 25-30 unwanted pounds. I just joined our local YMCA for the first time, and realized that I also need to change my diet, thus I found this site to help out.

My questions are: I have read that you are supposed to "eat" your calories burned from exercise. So, for example, this site tells me that I should eat 1540 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week. The days I go to the YMCA I burn about 280-300 calories (which is 3-4 days a week). On the other days I burn only about 100-200 with walking outside. So, do I really "eat" all of the calories---on top of the 1540 that I should also be eating? Or do you "eat" only some of your burned calories.

Also this site tells me that my BMR is 1518/day. Calories burned by just doing nothing. What exactly does that number tell me....what do I use that number for?

Any other information that you can give me would be helpful. I have no idea how fast or slow I will lose weight. Just like others on this site, I also want to lose my (twin skin tummy---as I call it!), or at least flatten it a little. The other place I have really gained weight is my thighs....not pretty for summertime!

Thanks in advance for your help!
Tricia

Replies

  • luvmytwins02
    luvmytwins02 Posts: 71
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    I have a few questions. I am a stay-at-home mom, who had twin girls 51/2 years ago. I have never needed to go on a diet, as I have always been thin....until I became a stay-at-home-mom. I seemed to snack a lot more and not on healthy foods! Well, over the last 5 years I have slowly gained about 25-30 unwanted pounds. I just joined our local YMCA for the first time, and realized that I also need to change my diet, thus I found this site to help out.

    My questions are: I have read that you are supposed to "eat" your calories burned from exercise. So, for example, this site tells me that I should eat 1540 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week. The days I go to the YMCA I burn about 280-300 calories (which is 3-4 days a week). On the other days I burn only about 100-200 with walking outside. So, do I really "eat" all of the calories---on top of the 1540 that I should also be eating? Or do you "eat" only some of your burned calories.

    Also this site tells me that my BMR is 1518/day. Calories burned by just doing nothing. What exactly does that number tell me....what do I use that number for?

    Any other information that you can give me would be helpful. I have no idea how fast or slow I will lose weight. Just like others on this site, I also want to lose my (twin skin tummy---as I call it!), or at least flatten it a little. The other place I have really gained weight is my thighs....not pretty for summertime!

    Thanks in advance for your help!
    Tricia
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    Hi and welcome!!! Yes, eat all your calories. There have been some helpful posts that will answer all your questions...so by posting my reply I am bumping your message and see if someone can refer you to those posts...I think one is called the answers to the questions or something like that...sorry I cannot be much help :tongue: :flowerforyou:
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
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    BMR is your minimum caliories for normal body opteation if you did (literally) nothing all day except breath. It's ok to burn at or below your BMR if you are attempting to lose weight (and are considered overweight or obese), but note that the closer you become to your Goal weight, the less true that becomes. I.E. if you're Body Mass Index is somewhere around 30, then you should be able to eat a little bit below your BMR because your body has a lot of available fat reserves to draw from, but as those reserves shrink, your body will start seeing the deficite as a very bad thing, there is not "tipping point", it's more of a curve (if you think of it as a graph), the less body fat you have, the smaller the amount of available fat reserves. It's important to note that the body doesn't like being low on fat, it will start lowering metabolic levels and burning lean tissue to try to even everything out. So the idea is, the closer you get to your goal, the less you should expect to lose per week, and the less aggressive you should be with regards to your calorie deficit.

    Does this make sense?

    Note: I'm not a doctor or anything, this is just based on my research. I have done lots and can find it for you if you like. But here is a link that has some good posts from this site on it. It's suggested reading for all beginners to the site.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9614-newbies-please-read-me

    Best of luck to you.
  • luvmytwins02
    luvmytwins02 Posts: 71
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    Thank you, those answer to help!
  • pam0206
    pam0206 Posts: 700 Member
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    Welcome!

    Yes, eat your exercise calories. I usually eat mine and I've been pleased with my results thus far. I have found that the calorie counter on here is pretty accurate, so if you need to estimate your calories from walking, this site should help out. The only caution that I have about eating your calories is to make sure that the calorie counters on the equipment are accurate for you. I use a treadmill at home and found, after buying a heartrate monitor, it was off by a couple of hundred calories burned. Compare your machines' calories to the ones listed on this site to see the difference (if there is one). For me, the calories listed on MFP have been more accurate than my treadmill.

    Your BMR, from what I understand, tells you the basic number of calories needed by your body for survival. It just gives you a guideline of calories that you should not go under.

    I have consistently lost about 1 lb/wk after my first initial loss. You will probably have a big loss at first, then nothing for just a bit. It'll be ok. Just don't let it catch you off guard. If you are counting your calories and exercising, your body is just adjusting to your new routine.

    Best of luck!

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