is this too much?

HeatherOltmans
HeatherOltmans Posts: 14 Member
edited December 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I am 5'6" and 137. I just want to lose about 8 lbs, so I have set MFP to only lose "1/2 lb per week." This gives me about 1510 calories in a day. However, I also work out quite a bit and according to my heart rate monitor I burn around 600 calories per workout (5 times a week). So, if I am following the advice I've read on these boards, and I eat my exercise calories back, I'm eating 2100 calories! That sounds like so much.

Any females here eat that much? I know I'm still "netting" 1500...so I guess I'm just looking for confirmation!

Any help or tips appreciated.

Replies

  • KilikiMom
    KilikiMom Posts: 237 Member
    i think that sounds about right :)

    one thing though i dont usually eat ALL my exercise calories back...i try to eat back at least half and it has been working for me....MFP has me at 1480 and usually with exercise i am up to about 2000 i am 5'9 and currently 149lbs set to loose 1lb a week so i tend to eat anywhere from 1700-1800 daily figure out what works for you...try just eating half those back for the first couple of weeks and if that works for you stick to it...if not try eating back a little bit more than half...til you find what works best for you
  • HeatherOltmans
    HeatherOltmans Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks! I will try that! I appreciate your reply!
  • HeatherOltmans
    HeatherOltmans Posts: 14 Member
    anyone else have success at losing those last few pounds while eating 2000 calories (netting 1500ish)?

    Thanks!
  • livpops
    livpops Posts: 12
    i struggle to reach my 1200 calories a day haha, so well done!
    i think that sounds healthy though, maybe don't eat back all your exercise calories if you wanna lose a bit quicker. :)
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
    I am 4'11" and weigh 101 pounds and my maintenance with working out is about that much. So yeah, 2100 sounds about right.
  • strunkm4
    strunkm4 Posts: 265 Member
    I was set at 1200 cals a day, and then I hit my goal in Feb. I switched it to maintain which gave me 1710 a day. I find that I am STILL losing weight now that I switched it, and I try my pretty darn hardest to eat them all up. (Some days I come close and then there are those days where I don't come close). But needless to say, I eat anywhere from 1400-1800 a day (sometimes 2000) and I am still losing weight! Not as rapidly as I was before, but maybe a lb every week and a half or so.
  • DaBossLady24
    DaBossLady24 Posts: 556 Member
    I agree with what the posters above me have said. With that, also realize that MFP and your HRM may not be the MOST accurate indication of how many calories you're burning, so just be sure to not go overboard and eat all of the calories back every single time you workout. Like they said before, just aim for about half or whatever feels right the day of

    Hope that helps and good luck!

    :drinker:
  • Karmarie24
    Karmarie24 Posts: 48 Member
    I didn't start losing until I upped my net calories! I ate 1200 net a day for a long time, I did lose at first but then started slowly gaining it back without changing anything. I did some research and decided to up my calories.

    I'm 5'5", 148 (started out this time at 162). I'm a distance runner and I do heavy weights 3x a week, so I end up eating about 2000-2600 a day depending on the workout. I typically net between 1500-1600 a day. I'm losing between .5 and 1 pound a week, which is fine with me considering I spent 2 months gaining or staying the same eating way less!

    Good luck!
  • nasja1984
    nasja1984 Posts: 98 Member
    if u don't eat back your exercise calories (or at least not all of them) you will lose faster
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    For a 1/2 lb a week loss you are operating very close to maintenance calories. What that means is that measuring your intake and exercise cals accurately becomes super critical, because small mistakes in measuring may add enough calories that you don't lose anything at all.

    If you're operating that close to maintenance I would say maybe don't eat all your exercise cals back. Eat maybe 50% of them back for a few weeks and see what happens. That way, if your HRM is overestimating or if you're accidentally getting a few more cals in your food measuring cup than you thought, you'll still be under maintenance and you'll still lose weight. Hope that makes sense...
  • newve
    newve Posts: 82 Member
    bump
  • HeatherOltmans
    HeatherOltmans Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks everyone for the replies! Keep them coming!
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